


The ties that bind us (aka Gallavich is free)

by Tanith_so_so



Series: Mickey and Ian [3]
Category: More heat than the sun, Shameless (US)
Genre: Gallavich, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-08-22
Packaged: 2018-11-05 22:32:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 36,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11022945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tanith_so_so/pseuds/Tanith_so_so
Summary: What doesn't kill us makes us stronger





	1. Trust us with this

**Author's Note:**

> It is recommended that series 2 is read to understand what is going on here.
> 
> and to get what's what you might need to read series 1 as well...

It wasn't that he thought he deserved special treatment, he'd flown economy many times before his life with Nik, so why didn’t he ever recall the seats being so uncomfortably narrow? It didn’t help when the lady in front of him reclined her seat back causing the tray in front of him to jolt with the movement being that it was attached to her chair. Nikolas would have been eloquent in describing the disaster, probably relating it to the ripple or butterfly effect, whatever effect Nik could describe it as, Ben could too. Fucking annoying. The tray dug into his stomach and Molly’s still full cup of Ribena juice that she refused to take tipped over and spilled across the expanse of the cheaply made table.

“What are you doing Benjamin?”, Nikolas asked.

He gave a quick glare at Nik who was in the window seat beside him, his annoying partner was just as tall and cramped as he was but somehow made it look so effortless. The Ribena juice seeped into his shirt winning the battle thread by thread, marking its claim by turning his white shirt crimson.

“Ha!” Ben exclaimed realising his last thought was quite poetic, he too could be articulate.

“Ben, my papers are getting damaged and you are worried about your stupid shirt?”

Grinding his teeth Ben stopped dabbing uselessly at his shirt with a tissue, “Fucking hell Nik, help me!”

Nikolas smoothly plucked the paper from the table, held them up to let the sticky liquid roll down the pages. Ben let out an outraged breath when Nikolas pulled at the front of his shirt using the hem to wipe down the table.

“Your shirt was ruined anyway, I don’t know why you insist on being so messy”

“That was Molly’s grape juice!” Ben exclaimed.

Nikolas gave him a derisive snort, “Go change and check on your daughter”.

Ben folded the table tray away deciding it best to keep his mouth shut. Did he really just blame the juice accident on his daughter who was sitting seven rows in front of them? This was not the first time he asked himself when would fatherhood come easy. Opening up the overhead compartment Ben pulled out their overnight bag, this time he chose a black shirt just incase there were anymore mishaps on the remainder of the flight. In economy even the aisles where narrow, Ben had to walk sideways to get to the toilets. As he made his way down the pathway he made note of his team members seats, due to the last minute flight Nikolas wasn't able to get them seated close together let alone in first or business class.

After contending with the confined space or airplane bathrooms, with his clean shirt on, Ben made his way down to 34A and 34B where his daughter sat with his best friend Squeezey. Mollys head was positioned at a 45 degree angle against Squeezey’s arm as she slept while Squeezey was twisting the Rubix cube Miles gave as a gag gift months ago. Secretly he had a feeling Nik had orchestrated the whole thing, Miles giving the Rubix cube to Squeezey.

Ben lowered him down in the aisle until he was on one knee, “How long she been asleep for?”

Squeezey gave him a fist bump, “Not long ‘go”

Ben studied his daughters face, even in her sleep her brows where furrowed. He pulled out Mollys cotton sweater from the back of the seat and rolled it up, he wedged it between her face and Squeezey so that she wouldn’t wake up with a crick neck.

Since the news of Mickey and Ian eight hours ago she had been crying on and off the whole time. Molly had asked to speak to Yevgeny only to have Nikolas say no to her. She had been shocked at first, considering Nikolas never refused her anything, when she realised what ‘no’ entailed she had in turn caused both Nik and himself shock. Molly had thrown her first tantrum. She screamed, cried and threw objects around her room until they had sent in reinforcements. Squeezey and the rest of his crew had been hired a few years ago after Molly’s kidnapping when she was just three. Ben had personally picked them out, vouched for them when Nikolas questioned their ability and the costs that came with an eight man crew. He was ex SAS, so was this team, they were more than experienced he had told Nikolas with a certainty he didn’t feel, after all, how can anyone be capable of minding a three year old girl?

“Best to keep Boss man ‘way from ‘er, she might go for his jugular next” Squeezey said his eye still on the Rubix cube turning them maddeningly without much success. “Big bastard, love to see him be taken down a notch by Molly though”.

Ben plucked the Rubix cube out of Squeezey’s hand, he peeled the coloured stickers off one by one, sticking the corner of the colours to the edge of the armrest. “Nik’s not a monster”

“Yeah, he just a regular Joe” Squeezey muttered sarcastically.

Ben stuck the coloured stickers back on the cube sides so that each had the completed coloured surface.

“You got something to say about him say it to his face”.

Squeezey winced, “ Why you gotta be like that. Fuck’n Boss man could probably stop my heart from beating just by raising a fuck’n brow at me”.

“Then you best remember a gift from Miles is a gift from Nik”.

Ben enjoyed the look of dawning horror that took over his friends face.

“Fucking ‘ell mate, I've clocked least 60 hours on this cube!” Squeezey exclaimed.

Ben stood, gave Squeezey a mock salute and continued down the aisle nodding at some of his team on the way. When he got back to his seat Nikolas was back to reading the stack of printed reports sent by email from Peyton earlier that morning. He’d tried reading it a few times in the last hour without much success, the police report filed by four New Orleans officers who arrived first to the scene where detailed but held no information on the why and who of the assault, nor did it give any possible leads. It was even harder for Ben to understand the information Peyton gleaned from the hospital database, all the scientific jargon did his head in and he didn’t have a mind to sit there and phonetically pronounce words that still wouldn’t mean anything to him.

From Ian’s initial report all he could make out was that Ian had a depressed skull fracture. Every other word used had too many syllables. What did cerebrospinal even mean? One thing was clear though, the extent of Ian’s injuries where severe enough that he had required immediate surgery.

Earlier when Peyton had woken them up with a phone call it had been all rush rush. Nikolas barked orders about packing an overnight bag for all three of them and calling Babushka and Enid up to the main house. 20 minutes after the wake up call Ben found that Nik had called for Molly’s full bodyguard team that where used on rare occasions, all eight men stood in their living room alert and armed to the teeth. Enid and Babushka not fazed by the amount of testosterone in the room made themselves comfortable on the couch by the fire with Molly sitting in between them. Nikolas had turned on the TV to show the events that had unfolded hours earlier courtesy of Peyton’s hacking ability.

Despite the grainy image, Ben could clearly make out the image of Ian and Mickey. Could even make out the license plate on the car as it sped off leaving two lifeless bodies on the road. The CCTV directly above the street lights captured everything, police and ambulance arriving minutes later, Ian wheeled away in a neck brace in the first ambulance. Mickey on the other hand had his shirt cut open, given CPR for several minutes before the defibrillator was used. Ben had seen clearly the paramedic yell the words ‘clear’ right before Mickeys body spasmed with the bolt of electricity in the hopes to get his heart beating again. Molly had cried out then distracting him from the screen, she was wedged between the two ladies who both had their arms around her. He’d hurried over, pulled her from the lounge and pushed her head onto his chest while she cried and asked if the boys where dead.

“Tell me yeah?” Ian asked pushing the paper Nikolas held down so he could look into golden brown eyes.

Nikolas turned in his seat, “Is she still crying?”

Ben shook his head, “Passed out from all that crying I guess. I can’t see why you couldn’t just let her speak to Yev and make sure he was okay”.

“He did not want to speak to her” Nikolas answered.

Ben frowned mulling it over, not in any universe could he see Yev not wanting to speak to Molly, those two were like pees in a pod.

“Benjamin” Nikolas said interrupting Ben's thoughts.

He turned to Nikolas questioningly, the same furrowed brows set as his sleeping daughter.

“Yev is not in the right mind frame to speak to Molly but I do believe he needs her, she will see him soon enough”

Ben’s frown turned into a glare, a glare wasn’t enough so he pinched Nikolas on the arm, “Why couldn’t you just explain that to her instead of letting her howl like a banshee?”

“Explain myself to a seven year old?”

Right, what was he even thinking, Nik never explained anything to anyone. He kept everybody in the dark until shit hit the fan then he apologised when he was forced to.

“What did you tell Emilia?” He asked. All he got in return was Nikolas wide eyes blinking slowly at him, “Fuck Nik, you did tell her right?

“Don’t swear at me Benjamin. If you must know I did try calling her, no one picked up” Nikolas replied.

Ben narrowed his eyes, if he had to guess Nikolas did call Emilia, had probably let the phone ring all of once. “Did you leave her a message?”. Fuck, he could picture Emilia upset and crying in her school dorms once she heard to news.

“I sent her a text”

“A text? A fucking text?” Ben was shouting now. “She would have called you back by now, show me your phone” He demanded.

Nikolas shook his head only infuriating him more, he pushed Nikolas back into his seat with one hand on the chest and with his other he dug into Niks pants pocket until he pulled out the cell phone. Ben unlocked it with the four digit password, when the screen unlocked Ben saw the 47 missed calls by Emilia. He showed the screen to Nik, “She’s been fucking calling and you’ve been avoiding her?”

Nikolas did his usual careless shrug, “She always wants to face time now. I don’t want to see snot and tears on Emilia so I sent her a text instead”.

Ben wanted to slap Nikolas across the face, sometimes he couldn’t believe he was in love with someone so callous. He had built a family with this man, Emilia and Miles might not be their flesh and blood but they were family in all the ways that counted. He opened up the text message Nikolas sent to Emilia and read their private conversation.

**Nikolas** : Remember that faith you had in Ben and I to bring you and Babushka safe out of the Taiga. Trust us with this.

Emilia had replied not in words but with a string of emojis.

**Emilia** : Tears streaming down face, a broken heart, a hammer and spanner, a knife and lastly the scale of justice.

Ben turned to Nikolas with tears in his eyes, “You made her a promise you can’t possibly know you can keep Nik”.

Mickey wasn’t even breathing when the ambulance arrived and Ian had a fractured skull. All they had so far was the CCTV, the ambulance and police report, the hospital had only entered in the basic analysis and had yet to input any data into their computers on what both Ian and Mickey required surgery for. From the CCTV Ben could tell that a meagre bandage was not going to fix the injuries both men would have sustained from the fight, then there was the physical impact of the car that had hit them from such close range it was already a miracle they weren’t announced DOA.

“When we land you take Molly and the team to the hospital. Colin and Mandy will be expecting you, you are going as Benjamin Rider, famous actor that you are and Mickey is your agent” Ben was about to speak up but Nikolas kept on going. “Set the Moron and the men up between Ian and Mickeys room, no one in and out unless they’re a Milkovich or a doctor”.

“I’m going with you” Ben said after Nikolas as done giving him orders.

NiK shook his head, “You’ve got responsibilities to Molly”

Ben wanted to slap Nik again.

Nikolas reached out a hand and placed it on his arm, a small but monumental gesture because Nikolas didn’t do PDA.

“Ben, listen. Did you not hear that one minute of silence held at the airport, Mickey and Ian are world wide news now. The hospital will be crawling with the media, I can't show my face there”.

Ben knew Nik was right, it didn’t mean he liked it. Nikolas getting caught in just one photo that was used in the paper years ago had almost been the end of things for them. Every lie Nikolas had built to protect himself from his past had come crashing down from a simple photo of him caught unexpectedly holding a pen in the wrong hand. No, not wrong, just not in the hand that Nikolas, the real Nikolas would hold it in. God, after all these years he still couldn’t explain it clearly. A web of lies so intricate it had cost Molly’s mother her life, he didn’t want anyone else to be caught in the crossfire.

“Got it, no connection between you and the boys”' Ben agreed unenthusiastically. "Where are you going?"

Nikolas turned away from him to face the window so when he spoke Ben had to lean over to catch the reply.

"Thanks to Ian Gallagher there is a man out there running around New Orleans with one eye missing, how hard do you think he would be to find?"

 

xxx

 

Nikolas had been right, the hospital was crawling with reporters. TV vans parked illegally across the road while the reporters stood at the front glass doors of the hospital all held back by a row of police officers. That wasn’t all, hundreds of regular people stood amongst the reporters and cops, some were holding lit candles while others just held one another for comfort. Ben had a large fan base, smaller now that he no longer stared in movies, but nothing like this. Flowers, teddy bears and balloons were piled along the hospital walls by people who wanted to do something for Mickey and Ian. Nobody even gave him a second look as he followed Mandy and Colin through the emergency doors, everyone was busy screaming at the appearance of Mandy and Colin. They yelled questions if Mickey and Ian where alright, Ben understood, he wanted to ask Mandy and Colin the exact same thing.

Once away from prying eyes Mandy took Molly out if his arms hugging his daughter to herself. He couldn’t make out what she said but saw Molly nod in reply their conversation hushed and out of his range. He had been afraid when Molly had come to live with Nik and him, it would alienate her from female companionship, what did two grown men know about little girls? Then Babushka, Emilia, and Enid had come into their lives, then milkovich’s closely behind making all his worries dissipate. Molly would never run out of female companionship.

Ben cleared his throat, “Colin, Mandy this is Squeezey and my team. If you can pass the word that you hired them as bodyguards it will make it easier for them to set up. We will have two men at all times guarding Ian and Mickey, anyone who enters that is not a Milkovich will need to show ID”.

The elevator door opened to a corridor filled with faces he recognised either from having met in person or from just being a long term viewer of the show. From the way they hugged Molly he could tell it was the whole Milkovich family, everyone was crowded outside the ‘Do not Enter’ sign above the double door that led to the operating rooms.

The moment he spotted Svetlana, Molly spotted Yev. Molly let her down and went running to him arms open, Ben closed his eyes hoping Yev would catch her because if not she was going to bowl him over. It was lucky that despite Yev not being able to talk to Molly over the phone, when she came barrelling at her he did actually smile and caught Molly artfully as she flew at him.

“Thank god you brought her” Mandy murmured next to him as they watched on.

xxx

Nikolas had thought about everything, set them up as bodyguards with firearm license and had guns delivered to them all once the plane landed. Hotel rooms were booked two blocks over for everyone with a backup apartment in the French quarters.

Ben motioned for his team leading them down the other end of the corridor where it was empty, “Squeezey, you and pyscho take first watch, the rest of you check the floors and meet back here in 30”.

After his team dissipated Svetlana, Mandy Colin and Iggy filled him in on what they knew

“Doctors useless, give nothing. We have to wait another two hours. Both still in surgery”. Svetlana said.

Colin continued when Svet finished “Mickey was brought in as critical, they managed to resuscitate him but he's got a collapsed lung, four broken ribs, internal bleeding, some back bone issue, a break in his thigh and collar bone. Some other things but fuck it, if that isn’t enough to worry about”.

Every Milkovich was red eyed from crying, all looked worried unlike how he always saw them on their show. Ben nodded his thanks to Colin for the update, grateful that it was said in terms he could understand.

“What about Ian?” Ben asked turning to Mandy.

Mandy looked up shaking her head, “We don’t know, he’s on the floor above but we’ve been banned from going up there”.

Iggy who had spend the last four hours berating the nurses for updates every two minutes spoke up, “ Whole fucking Gallagher family is there, arrived a few hours ago. That older sister of Ian told the nurses we weren’t family”.


	2. Unravelling

Over the next few weeks there would be immense speculation on the assault, the LGBT community had a spokesperson admonishing the cowards who targeted two defenceless men. The police conceded the possibility it was a hate crime but wouldnt  rule out a burglary gone wrong.

The fans weighed in with a wide range of conspiracy theories, they set up websites dedicated to Mickey and Ian. Sites with the purpose of finding the four who led the attack and got away in a jeep. The police declared them vigilantes, tried to shut down such forums claiming it was not helping their investigation, when they were successful with one, ten other cropped up in its place.

Maddening theories came about.

Someone wanted Mickey and Ian dead, tired to pass it off as a robbery gone wrong. This theory was written with a lot of merit, the anon gave a list of all the people over the years that have ever said something bad about Mickey. One famous movie star was quoted saying Mickey was ‘uncultured’. Another incident was recalled where a 3-star Michelin restaurant drew first blood by lashing out at Mickey after he left the restaurant without leaving a tip. Claimed he was ‘Cheap and had no etiquette’. When a reporter days later  read him the comments left by the restaurant Mickey  laughed, responding he didn’t leave a tip because when he left the restaurant he was still hungry. In turn he had asked the reporter why the restaurant insisted on serving such pretentious portions.

Loads of government conspiracies came about, Mickey was always verbal about his hatred for bureaucracy, claiming politicians ‘did nothing but sit on their fat asses all day and waste tax payers money on filet fucking mignon’. This might be just like princess Diana all over again.

The Milkovich’s where set to win their 6th award, the FBI, CIA and police should really be investigating every show up for nomination, someone wanted to win bad enough they were trying to get rid of the competition.

Those who only loved one half of the duo, after watching the CCTV released by the police morphed from a stan to a shipper. It wasn’t possible to not ship Gallavich when on the grainy CCTV it clearly showed Mickey, holding up his hand warning Ian of the danger. That CCVT footage was broken down, watched and rewatched, every action was read into, analysed. Mickey turning his back on Ian, throwing the first punch despite being outnumbered, speculated that Mickey was trying to buy Ian time to run. Ian, on the other hand, not taking his lovers warning, jumped into the fray. That image of Ian cradling Mickey to him to take on the impact of the car sealed the fate of every Mickey fan.

You couldn’t love Mickey without loving Ian Gallagher, not after seeing that.

XXX

**Iggy**

He hated hospitals, its smell, the off white walls and the stupid stethoscope that doctors hung around their necks. Miracles didn’t happen in hospitals, the Milkovich’s learnt it the hard way. It only brought on memories of their mother dying, of his brothers and Mandy sometimes getting beaten up so bad by Terry.

Standing at the foot of his brothers bed, for the first time in his life Iggy prayed to God. He begged for Mickey to wake up, offered up his life to anyone who was listening, all his worldly possession, promised to stay on the straight and narrow and to never use the Lords name in vain ever again.

When Mickey didn’t wake, Iggy vowed to make whoever was behind the attack pay with everything they had.

XXX

**Gallaghers**

When Mandy called him that early morning he had still been up studying so he’d picked up the phone at first ring. On the first available flight Debbie, Liam, Yevgeny, Svetlana and he where on their way back to New Orleans days after Ians impromptu Thanksgiving dinner.

Ian’s operation had taken 8 hours and a week later the doctors where still claiming he was very lucky to be alive. Lip held back multiple retorts that if unconscious was alive then they all should quit being a doctor. The depressed fracture would heal overtime but Ian might experience nausea and confusion when he woke up and would need family care for a few months until he could get back onto his feet.

Currently it was just him and Fiona sitting on either side of Ian while Debbie and Carl went to find some cafeteria food. His sister who he hadn’t seen in a few months arrived a day after with Frank in tow, kicked the Milkovich’s that had been hovering over Ian’s bedside out and started making arrangements for Ians care without one word to him.

“Why is Frank with you?”, he asked.

Fiona kept her her eyes on Ian as if she was willing him to wake up. Debbie had cried yesterday when she had been present for the bandage change around Ians head. He tried to calm her down by explaining the bruising surrounding Ian’s eyes where caused from the brain trauma, that no one had actually punched Ian in the eyes and the stitches at the back of his head would heal over time.

“Frank showed up at my doorstep with an article of Ian on the front cover, claimed Ian was dying” Fiona replied slowly.

Lip gave an incredulous laugh, “What, so Frank knows where you live but we don’t?”.

He hadn’t seen Fiona in months, at first Liam asked where she was but eventually those questions stopped coming. They’d managed without her.

Fiona glared at him, “You know what, fuck you Lip. I’m trying to live my life, make something for myself, it's not a fucking crime to want something of my own!”

He’d didn’t care what she did, except her coming and going when she pleased reminded him of their mother. The stress of Ians condition and Fiona’s comment made him snap, he stood up, he went around to the other side of the bed where Fiona sat and carefully took Ians hand out of her hold.

He gently placed Ians hand on the bed and turned to her, “Get the fuck out”.

Fiona shook her head glaring up at him “I’m his legal guardian”.

Lip laughed putting himself between Ians bed and Fiona, “He’s not six anymore Fiona, he doesn't need you. None of us do, you can go live your life far away from us if that’s what you want”.

Fiona sidestepping him, “He doesn't need me? Lok where he fucking is!”.

Distracted by their argument they didn’t hear Debbie and Liam enter the room.

“You guys are kinda loud” Debbie said closing the door behind her.

“Oh good Debbie, tell Fiona we don’t need her here” Lip demanded indicating at Fiona. “She seems to think we need her”.

Liam stepped further into the room and took Lips vacated seat by Ians bed, “You guys should argue outside”.

“Carl’s on his way home, he’ll fix this when he gets here. We all just need to keep it together until then” Debbie said, always playing the peacemaker.

Lip didn’t want to keep it together, his brother who he promised to always be there for was laying there unresponsive.

“He missed you, you know?” Lip said quietly. His head bent over the bed, fingers wrapped tightly around bed rails, “He invited us to his home, made us all dinner. Debbie, Liam and I were all there, where were you?”.

Lip looked up, eyes now red and glistening. “You know what's fucked up, he didn’t ask once where you were to me. Played it off that it wasn’t a big deal you didn’t come. If Mickey hadn’t told me the the amounts of time Ian called you, I wouldn’t have known any different. Then after dinner, we had dessert, some peach cake with Vanilla ice cream-“ Lips voice broke and he had to swallow before continuing, “There must have been over 20 tubs of that shit in the freezer, you think it’s a coincidence he bought that much vanilla ice-cream Debs?”

Lip looked over at Debbie who shook her head in answer to his question, her face matched his own. She was crying silently into the sleeve of her shirt, “It was your favourite brand Fiona”.

Fiona made a choking sound, she went up to Ian and rested her head on his stomach, eyes tilted up at Lip, “It was just dinner, I didn’t think it was necessary”.

“You still don’t fucking get it” Lip cried. “We don’t want you around because it’s fucking ‘necessary’, we want you around because you’re our sister!”

“I-I” Fiona stuttered. She looked around the room at all them, “I was trying so hard to make something of myself I forgot what you all meant to me. I’m so sorry Lip”

Lip willed himself to calm down, “Don’t say your sorry. Don’t waltz in and out of here like Monica and say sorry when it suits you”.

“Lip” Deb said moving to stand beside Fiona.

Debbie was looking at Ian, everyone turned to do the same. His face was almost all wrapped up, but his mouth and nose was uncovered. Ian’s lips where moving and Liam stood up leaning in to try and catch the words.

Liam looked up at them, “I think he says you guys are really loud and he wants to know if he was hit by a bus”.

XXX

 

**Colin**

Money, you couldn’t do much without it, this he knew very well. If someone had warned him now much it would cost to run a ranch he might have thought twice about it. He’d poured all his savings into a 60,000 acre picturesque ranch in Saratoga, Wyoming and was planning on unveiling it to his family as a Christmas gift.  
He’d bought the Milk ranch with Mickey in mind, wanted a place for Mickey to go when the media got too much for him. All the joking aside he always knew Mickey didn’t like that they were so infamous, even less now that Ian was subjected to the scrutiny that came with the Milkovich name.  
They could all use the ranch on their off days, he knew Mickey would get a kick out of trying to be a farmer. Colin could picture his brother sitting on a tin bucket trying to milking a cow named Nettie all the while swearing at having to squeeze a tit.

Not only did the ranch cost him everything he owned, it was still costing him because a ranch couldn’t run itself. He had over 50 employees looking after the land and cattle, the house itself needed two house keepers even when none of the Milkovich’s where staying there.

So when Jamie came to him with a handful of documents claiming they needed to get their finances in order he could do nothing but blink stupidly at his brother.

XXX

**Frank and Squeezy**

“You or me?” Squeezy asked.

Ben made a face considering it, “Me”.

Squeezy shook his head, “Sorry mate, was only askin’ to be polite considering you shaggin’ the boss. Last thing we need is for ‘im to ‘ave ‘nother story to sell about movie star beating the fucking shit outta ‘im”.

Ben nodded, sometimes Squeezy managed to speak some sense even if it wasn’t clear. With Nikolas gone the last two weeks he was glad to have his best friend around even if it was just to keep an eye on things. Svetlana had taken both Molly and Yevgeny to the hotel for the night while Mandy and the other Milkovich’s haven’t left the visitors lounge attached to Mickeys room. Just hours ago they had heard news that Ian was now conscious, this was relayed to the outside press courtesy of Ians dad.

“I’ll send psycho and riff-raft down”, Ben said as he stood up. He wanted to go see Mandy, she seemed withdrawn more than usual since Ian coming to. Ben could understand how worried she was considering the doctored where keeping Mickey in an induced coma until the swelling in Mickeys brain reduced to a non threatening level.

Squeezy watched Ben leave, stayed by the elevator with hands clasped in front of himself as if he was really a body guard watching out for any possible threat to his movie star boss. Once Ben was safely in the elevator his attention turned to Frank Gallagher, through the glass wall he could see Frank clearly sifting through the tokens left by fans lined against the wall of the hospital building. Ian’s dad had been stealing the stuffed teddies since he arrived and was selling it back to the hospital gift shop for a small profit.

With Franks arms full of gifts Squeezy waited until his men where situated in front of the two elevators that would take Frank one level up to the gift shop. He casually opened the stairwell door and waited for Frank Gallagher to be told by his men the elevators were out of order.

It was never boring working for Nikolas Mikkelsen, the pay was well and sometimes you really got to have some fun. He knew Ben wouldn’t want Frank to be roughed up in any way, it didn’t mean he couldn’t threaten the man of every inch of his life.  
Squeezy heard Frank enter the stairwell muttering about government institutions failing to provide adequate services to tax payers. When Frank made it to the first landing of the stairwell Squeezy wrapped on large hand around his throats stopping his ramblings mid sentence.

"There is a blackmarket for human organs ” Squeezy said calmly pinning Frank to the wall with one hand. He was six foot five, built like a body builder and was rougher than Bistrol itself, Fank Gallagher who had the motor skills of a 90 year old man was a joke.

All the stuffed animals tumbled at their feet as Frank struggle, “I’ll give you all my cash, take it, it's in my back pocket man”

“I’ll tell you what I’ll take. Your cornea’s will fetch 12 grand, intestines another 5, I’d take your liver and lungs too but judging by your stench you’re a heavy drinker and smoker so they won’t be worth shit”.

“Fuck. You can’t snatch people from hospitals and sell them back to the doctors, that’s fucking sick!”

Squeezy smiled, the cold eyes of a killer, “Like you lifting those stuffed animals and selling it back to the gift shop or trying to find someone to sell the story of your son to for a quick buck?”.

The grip on Franks throat tightened until he blacked out, Squeezy let the body sink to the cold floor. He crouched down to inspect the scraggly looking man, wondering if maybe he should cut out a lung or cornea just because he could.

Squeezy heard someone cough and turned unconcerned that he hadn't heard anyone else enter the dimly lit stairwell, “What?”

“I don’t think Ben wants us to kill him” Psycho said.

Riff-raft bent down picking up the stuffed rabbit, teddy bear and donkey, “There's an empty room on level 8, has a bathtub, we could do some waterboarding and return him without a scratch. Would probably clean him up some”

Squeezy was tempted with his mates idea, but Ben had been clear that they were not to injure Frank even if the injury wouldn’t be visible. “Get ‘im up to that room and strap ‘im down naked. Tape his mouth and leave ‘im there for the nurses or cleaning staff to find ‘im”.

XXX

**Mandy**

When Ben went up to find her she'd already left. Mandy left a note on Mickeys bedside table addressed to her brothers.  
She would be gone a few days, to start plans without her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a later chapter to come...
> 
> From Merriam-Webster
> 
> Definition of: Bramble  
> noun bram·ble \ˈbram-bəl\
> 
> 1  
> : any of a genus (Rubus) of usually prickly shrubs of the rose family including the raspberries and blackberries; also : the fruit of a bramble


	3. You give them time to remember

**Frank and Molly**

Frank woke up to with something hard in his mouth and strapped in place with duct tape. When he slightly tilted his head down he could just make out that it was a stick held in place by the tape that rounded his face, and through the back of his head. It wasn’t the only thing that was strapped, he too was held down with leather bindings on his wrists and ankles to a hospital bed. A small girl was hunched over his naked chest with surgical gloves on drawing on him with a fine felt tip pen, currently she was shading in one of the four chambers of a heart that was accurately positioned just above where his real heart lay.  
Maybe it was the groaning sound that emanated from his throat because she turned the greenest eyes he had ever seen to him. If it wasn’t for those eyes he would have thought he was dreaming of Fiona, she small again and visiting while he was in hospital once again for alcohol intoxication. Instead emerald eyes blinked at him, once twice, then she gave him a slow and shy smile. “Hello Mister Ian’s Dad”. Frank registered her accent and made a noise in his throats, rattling at the bindings on his wrist to indicate to her he wanted to be let loose. Seeming to not understand him she continued in her accent, “I let you borrow Radulf’s favourite stick that I stole from him. You’re going to be in a lot of pain because I couldn’t find the anaes… anaesthetic. Did you know that the human body has two pairs of floating ribs, Miles told me. You don’t even need them.” His eyes widened when the girl he guessed no older than six picked a scalpel in one hand and in the other picked up heavy looking surgical instrument she could barley lift . “This is a bone cutter, don’t worry I found some Advil you can have after surgery.”  
In less than two minutes Frank Gallagher fainted after regaining consciousness.

XXX

 **Nikolas Mikkelsen**  
The assailants that ambushed Ian and Mickey chose to lay low in the uttermost decrepit looking house Nikolas had the misfortune of setting his sights on. From the outside it looked ready to be knocked down, all the windows where boarded up, whatever colour paint had been used on the house long faded away leaving an off colour that reminded Nikolas of the human flesh once the skin was peeled back. He’d been on this stakeout for the last three days. Once Peyton had located the abandoned getaway jeep on the 1-10W headed towards a town called Orange it hadn’t taken Nikolas long to track the men down. From the inside of the car he had lifted fingerprints and sent them across to Peyton to run through the police database. All four men were wanted for small crimes that Nik found amusing: burglary, assault, a substantial amount of parking fines. The last one made him chuckle, the man that Ian eye gouged had filed a restraining order against his ex-wife.

Nikolas waited behind a shrub in front of the house, it was insane just how well hidden the house was from view despite being on a main highway. Trees, grass and shrubs were overgrown around the house allowing him the ability to blend in seamlessly to the surroundings. For the last two nights the four men had left at approximately 9pm to go for a food run, if he had been teaching a course in ‘laying low’ he would have unequivocally taught the men that a trip to McDonalds did not constitute as necessary, and at no time was heavy metal music blaring out of the beat up old Ford as it peeled out of the gravel laden driveway a good idea. Did these men not know they had a target on their backs?  
Once the backlight of the car was no longer visible Nikolas stepped out from behind the shrubbery and straightened his coat. He walked up the step, onto the rickety front porch careful not step too hard into the rotten timbre planks. Within seconds he picked the lock on the front door and into what Nikolas could only describe as…gross. Ben used that same word to describe Molly when she let Radauf share her ice cream cone, as far as he could tell, ‘gross’ was befitting. Radulf might have disagreed if he knew he was being compared to this house, but being a dog, he really didn’t have a say.  
  There was that saying, ‘Beauty is skin deep’. Nikolas knew it was a lie, some idiotic dreamer way of romanticising everything ugly. The inside of the house was not beautiful, held no charm and was not quaint. The only working light in the house came from a small lamp that sat on the ground by a deflated beanbag . Nikolas flipped the switch on the lamp and stood in the centre of the room amazed that even after his years in numerous political prison camps, this place made him the shudder. The carpet was thread bare and badly stained with certain parts so worn out the floor board beneath was visible. Worse of all, the walls seemed to be throbbing with life. He had always used the word throbbing in relation to a certain body part he enjoyed, especially the one attached to his favourite person: Benjamin Rider. This however was not that kind of throb, there was black mould growing on the walls and he swore that despite the low light, he could see the mould shift and spread across the walls. Nik held a hand over his mouth and nose before walking further, there was only one bedroom, it held a bunk bed an old broken chest of drawers and not much else. Retracing his steps he went to the kitchen which had a stove, on the stove sat another appliance, a toaster.  
   Nikolas checked his watch as he stood in the kitchen, it would take the men approximately ten minutes to return, he planned to lie in wait in the corner of the lounge and take them down once they entered through the front door. The back door was boarded up so he wasn’t concerned any of the men escaping, anyone who came in through the door wouldn’t be leaving. He was however, worried about his ability to last the next few minutes, the stench from the walls, carpet and general lack of fresh air threaten to overwhelm him. Unwilling to stay in the corner of the lounge where the darkest part of the room was, Nikolas went back in to the kitchen and pried one of the boards off the back door allowing a cool breeze in.  
Once again it amazed him how stupid the men were, there was a national manhunt on all four of them yet when they returned the men made such a commotion. He had no faith in law enforcement, but over two weeks now and the police had no lead of these four clowns made Nikolas believe the U.S police where far more incompetent then the average. Nikolas took his time to attaching the silencer to his SIG as he heard the heavy footprints pound up the porch. As the first man entered through the door Nikolas pushed off the wall with one foot soundlessly, he made his way across the room and wrapped a gloved hand across the man's mouth and shot him in the back point blank. The second man was injured already from the fight with Mickey and Ian no doubt, he had his arm in a makeshift sling so there was no real fight to be had there. Nikolas twisted the injured arm backwards until he heard the joint in the elbow snap, the man let out a screen and fell to his knees where Nikolas shot him execution style. The third man almost tall as Nik’s six foot four barged in, no doubt concerned at the scream his friend let out earlier. Nikolas dropped the gun and himself, the man’s fist hit empty air only to have Nik pull out his ankle blade and embed it through his shoe and into the flesh and bone of his left foot. Pinned down by the blade into the floorboard the man was not able to move, Nikolas picked up his gun and shot the man in the chest. One more man, Nikolas turned towards the open door, he had made one mistake, not letting the men all enter the house before he started shooting. The one eyed man was now running down the empty highway, he must have watched a lot of American movies for he was running in a zig zag path. This was just as predictable as running straight, Nikolas followed pursuit. Although Nikolas preferred to swim unlike Ben who enjoyed jogging he once in a while joined Ben on his gruelling jogs, Nikolas liked running behind Ben, he appreciated Ben’s backside as often as he could and so, gained ground on the man in no time. Within range, Nikolas stopped, aimed and shot the man in the calf. He went crashing down on his hands and knees and was crying by the time Nikolas reached him.

“Please, don’t kill me”

Nikolas crouched down noticing the black eye patch over the mans eye, “You want to go to the police?”

The man nodded, “Yes, yes anything. just don’t kill me”

He thought about it, nodded and motioned for the man to stand up. It took him a few tries but he was standing. Nikolas indicated to the rented Chrysler van parked a few feet away from where they were, hidden behind some trees. The man understood, he started limping towards the van.  
   Nikolas opened the back of the van and made a sweeping gesture for him to get in, as soon as he climb in, Nikolas shot him in the back of the head. This way it was one less body he had to carry to the vehicle. Starting up the car Nikolas reversed into the driveway parking on the lawn, he spent the next ten minutes removing the bodies from the house. He had thought about it earlier, how to clean up the crime scene, but looking around the house he knew it wasn’t necessary. So what if there was a small amount of blood splatter on the carpet and walls, if a murder happened here it held none of his blood, none of his fingerprints, he wasn’t concerned at all that this would lead back to him. He did however, think it was his duty to rid the world of such a dismal house.

XXX

 **Benjamin Rider-Mikkelsen**  
Ben watched Ian’s brother Lip’s retreating form as he left the hospital cafeteria. Lip had just updated him with the latest, Ian was conscious, his vision was blurred seeing nothing but shapes and he suffered from memory loss; amnesia. The last five years, Lip had estimated. Ian would get the results from today's CT scan and neurological test tomorrow, but other than that his head wound was healing better than expected. His ribs, bones, cuts and abrasions would heal over time, the doctors stressed that they should try and keep things as normal for Ian as possible. Normal for what five years had been like. So no, no Milkovich’s where allowed to visit, he himself wasn’t allowed to even though he pointed out to Lip he actually met Ian around five years ago when Ian was an EMT officer. It seemed their older sister was quite adamant on protecting Ian, the TV was removed from the room so Ian wouldn’t hear on the news that Mickey was still in a coma, that fans spent their days outside waiting on news of Gallavich, or the lawsuit against the Milkovich’s by The Milkovich show that was breaking use on every channel as of a few hours ago.  
   Ben was at a loss on what to do, Molly and Yev where with Svetlana, the Milkovich’s where in the connecting room from Mickey holding a private family meeting, and Nikolas was god knows where. He picked up his phone and dialled Nikolas, he didn’t want to because he knew it was a sign of weekness but even if he got a voicemail he would at least get to hear Nikolas’s voice and be reassured by it. When Nikolas picked up the call on first ring Ben was surprised, when Nikolas answered with a clip “Ben”, his heart stuttered and he swore he loss ten years off his life.

“Nik? What's wrong?” Ben asked.

There was the sound of a car door opening and closing, “You called me, you tell me what is wrong”

“You called me Ben, you never do this!”

“Benjamin, I am a very busy right now. I don’t have time to talk to you every hour of every day just because you are bored”

Benjamin fumed, no longer concerned for Nikolas’s welfare, “We haven’t spoken for over two weeks Nik!”. He pictured Nikolas shrugging or making that annoying wave gesture that meant Nikolas found being tied down irritating. So when Nikolas provided him with the address to his location and asked Ben to meet him there he was taken aback.

“Do hurry Ben, daylight is in eight hours” Nikolas added before hanging up the phone.

It was a four hour drive to the address Nikolas provided, a construction site just outside of Beaumont. Google map told him it would take four hours and five minutes, Ben made in there in less than three. As Ben pulled up he schooled his face before greeting Nik who was sitting on a milk crate overlooking a hole two feet by eight feet long.

There was no embrace, kiss or words exchanged on how much they missed one another.

“It’s six feet deep too”, Nikolas said as they overlooked the hole.

Ben counted the four bodies laying not more than two feet away, he took in their height, weight, cause of death and matched each one to the image from the CCTV. “Where’s the other three?” Ben asked.

Nikolas rolled his eyes, “One size fits all Benjamin. Besides, the man I paid drove a hard bargain."

Ben ignored Niks bullshit and looked around at the construction site, he could tell there was no power because Nikolas would have no doubt attempted to use some of the equipment that was onsite just because… they were after all men and full of testosterone. There was however 24 bags of cement, at least a tonne of sand, a hose that lead to a tap and a manual cement mixer. Ben eyed the mixer for some time, then looked up at Nikolas who had a smirk on his face. He now knew why Nikolas had picked up the phone, Nik didn’t do manual labour, or so he said many times.

Ben’s hypothesis was confirmed when Nikolas spoke up. “Well come on Ben, we can't just rely on your good looks alone to get things done.”

As Ben turned the handle on the mixer he updated Nikolas on Ians condition. The Milkovich lawsuit wasn’t news to Nikolas because Peyton had already updated him on the show suing the Milkovich's for failure to commit to the 10 day a month filming agreement. Mandy going AWOL was however news.

“Nik, stop poking at the eye socket!” Ben exclaimed when he realised Nikolas wasn’t really paying attention to anything he was saying. When he looked over at Nik who was back on his milk crate with a twig in his hand digging at the hole where the eye use to be.

Nikolas looked up at him, “I think the flesh around the socket was starting to rot, look Ben”. Nik tapped at the flesh around the socket and pointed his pen torch at the open wound.

Ben ignored Nikolas, he certainly did not want to see rotting flesh considering he was hungry. “Nik! What are we going to do about Ian?” Ben shovelled some sand into the mixer then turned on the hose, he went back to turning the mixer by hand thinking Nikolas wasn’t going to answer him. He rolled all four bodies in, threw some bricks that he found nearby for good measure then tipped the first load of cement into the hole.

Ben repeated this process four times before Nikolas replied. “I don’t know Benjamin, what should you do when those you care about forget about you?” Nikolas asked so softly Ben almost missed it.

Ben let go of the handle to the mixer and turned off the hose, he wiped his hands on his jeans and crouched down in front of Nikolas. For the first time in over two weeks they gazed into each other's eyes reaffirming the connection that existed from the moments they met. They went through something similar when Ben lost his memory, in those moments he had unknowingly cheated on Nikolas, Molly being the product of that time. What was meant to be a painful reminder to them both had only strengthened their bond, a testament to the depth of their love for one another.

“You give them time to remember.”

An hour to daylight Nikolas stubbed out his cigarette with his shoe and stood up claiming they didn’t really needed to bury the bodies because this site was to be a new housing development area. Nikolas estimated the body would be excavated in less than a week. Ben let out a curse, stomped off to Niks rented Chrysler van, gave it a clean the only way a trained operative would then went to sit in the passengers seat of his own rental. When Nikolas slid into the driver seat he gave a quick glance at Ben before starting the engine,

“What Ben, I thought you could use the exercise”.

Ben didn’t reply to this, he knew Nikolas’s goal was to annoy him. As Nikolas made a U-turn Ben put a hand on the steering wheel, Nikolas stepped on the breaks. Ben opened the car door and effortlessly jogged to the milk crate where Nik had been sitting. He picked up every cigarette butt Nikolas had littered and shoved them into his left jeans pocket. His back to Nikolas, Ben smirked, annoying Nikolas was a million times better than no Nikolas.

They were quiet on the ride back to New Orleans, Ben staring out the window while Nikolas listened to the radio. They passed a few fire engines on the highway, the crew where putting out the remnants of what looked to be a house fire. Nothing was left of it but a pile of black ash beside the roadside.  
Ben rummaged through Nikolas’s coat pocket and found three cell phones that Nikolas had picked off the dead bodies. The first phone wouldn’t power up. The second one Ben redialled the last number, he got an automated response from the cell phone provider advising that they needed to purchase more credits before outbound calls could be made. The third phone Ben redialled the last number, he noticed that it had been dialled multiple times in the last four weeks. On the sixth ring, a voice Ben recognised answered the phone.

“Miles?” Ben asked.

The call disconnected.

XXX

  
Nikolas didn’t speed like Ben did when driving, he stuck to the speed limit so it would take them four hours to get to New Orleans. Before they reached the hospital, there was another breaking news about the Milkovich’s that aired on the station Nikolas listened to despite it playing nothing but classical.  
Mandy Milkovich had been arrested by the L.A.P.D, charges where unknown as the police where yet to release a statement. It was understood however that the son of the ex- mayor of New Orleans, Andrew Pike, recently released from prison was found dead in the same hotel she was checked in at.


	4. Shove it where the sun don't fuckin' shine

**Mandy Milkovich**  
The Deputy Chief of the L.A.P.D personally secured the cell door to her home for at least the next 24 hours. Mandy settled onto the cold metal bench and stared straight ahead at the wall in front of her, she refused her right for a phone call. The more distance she put between herself and her brothers the better.

 **Miles Toogood**  
Miles held a pamphlet titled ‘What is Peripheral Vascular Disease?’. Being one who wanted to know everything, he read the pamphlet given to him by the debilitated man sitting in a wheelchair next to him. PVD was a blood circulation disorder, it wasn’t contagious. Miles wanted to argue that fact. The pamphlet stated one of the causes was emotional distress, he was feeling emotional distress this very moment sitting next to the man with blue feet, mangled toenails and ulcers that looked like third degree burns.

“Disgusting right?” The man asked wiggling the large toe on his right foot, “I can barely move the foot except for that toe”.

Miles could only nod, he didn’t want to talk in case the mans blisters were home to a flesh eating disease which would became airborne the moment he opened his mouth to reply. Sure he had been the reason Emilia and he had been given a lecture by Ben once they had arrived at the hospital. He wasn’t trained in espionage, if a phone rang, you answered it. So what if the cell phone belonged to a dead man that he stole only hours earlier, it rang, he answered. It wasn’t like he killed anyone.

Making sure it was his own cell phone Miles texted Ben.

 **Miles** : How long do I have to sit next to PVD?

 **Ben** : What? Who?

 **Miles** : Peripheral Vascular Disease man

 **Ben** : ???

 **Miles** : The one you made me sit next to as punishment. Why isn't Emilia getting punished?

 **Ben** : You sit there until you learn your lesson

 **Miles** : What lesson?

 **Ben** : exactly

XXX

 **Nikolas Mikkelsen**  
The tea Ben fetched for him was cold and tasted like dishwater, American tea was atrocious. Nikolas studied Ben’s unnaturally long lashes as he flicked through the 3inch stack of document that was the lawsuit filed against the Milkovich’s. He smirked when Ben got to the financial section, it was always amusing watching Benjamin try to add two figures together when they were were more than double digits. These figures, Nikolas knew where in the hundreds of Millions, for most millionaires it would mean bankruptcy.

“These figures can’t be right Nikolas, have you seen this? Where is my phone, I need the calculator App. I think they want 2.7 Million, that’s crazy!”

 _Crazy is how you got 2.7 Million_ , Nikolas thought. What the show wanted in compensation for loss of revenue was more to the tune of 460 Million. An inch of the paperwork was dedicated to the calculation on how the lawyers reached that value, Nikolas who loved numbers worked it out rather easily. 4 Mil per year, multiply it by 23 Milkovich’s give or take a few then multiply that figure by 5 years that they show had aired for, those where the calculation that was justified because it was the highest grossing TV show of all time. “I don’t think your phone app calculator can hold that many digits Benjamin. Don’t forget the fact that all this is in American Dollars, you would need to convert it to pounds then figure out how many beef and kidney pie you could buy with that amount just so you could relate.”

Ben looked up at him panic written all over his face, “What are you going to do Nik! Do we have this kind of money? I knew I shouldn’t have bought a years supply worth of whey powder when it wasn’t even discounted. You will just need to tell Miles he will have to go to community college and give up his dreams of NASA. Emilia doesn't need a degree in Marine biology, she can start a dog grooming business. Your daughter Molly doesn't need a new coat this year from the Burberry kids collection, she can wear my hand me downs.”

Nikolas didn’t bother asking Ben why he was lumping the Milkovich’s financial woes with them or the fact that the children where his responsibility when things went wrong. Nikolas was about to put up a hand to stop Benjamin, instead decided to tune Ben out as he usually did when Ben talked nonsense. He was surprised the show would proceed with the lawsuit while Mickey was still in a coma, it was kind of ruthless. Mickey was in a coma, Mandy was behind bars and the Milkovich’s where about to become dirt poor once more.

“Nik!”

He snapped out of his thoughts and turned questioningly to Ben, he didn’t even deny not listening, “What now Benjamin?”

“What are you going to do about Emilia?” Ben asked.

Nikolas let out a huff, “Why is it all ‘what are _you_ going to do about this, what are _you_ going to do about that’, you do something for once Benjamin.”

Benjamin's saw through his tirade. This was the downside of having someone love you, they got to know you really well. Nikolas crossed his arm waiting for Ben’s next word as if he was waiting for the firing squad.

“She still loves him” Ben said.

Nikolas glared stonily at Ben, he did not want to have this talk. These were woman quandaries , “I don’t have time for your ridiculous conversation Benjamin. I’ve got genuine problems to solve.”

Ben wasn’t fazed, “Did you think she would just grow out of it?”.

That’s exactly what he thought. “I don’t know what you are talking about”. He stood up and went to the window, the hospital overlooked a park, it was dark but the lawn was lit up with thousands of candles. It was no longer just Mickey and Ian fans, the lawsuit against the Milkovich’s and Mandy’s recent arrest brought out every Milkovich fan to show their support for their beloved Milkovich.

“Nikolas?”

He squared his shoulders back but didn’t turn around at the sound if his name formed as a question. If it wasn’t for the fact that he didn’t want to see her he would have admired how she was able to enter the room without his knowledge.

“Can you at least look at me?” Emilia asked.

Nikolas steeled himself and turned around, he’d refused to see her when she had arrived with Miles, asked Ben to deal with them both and made sure everyone knew Emilia was not allowed to see Mickey in his state. Benjamin was no longer in the room, in his place was Emilia. She wore a cashmere sweater of soft pink that he bought her for her birthday, Squeezy had commented that the colour clashed with her red hair, which Nikolas grudgingly agreed to secretly. Yet she still wore it, claimed it was her favourite sweater. Emilia indicated to the seat he vacated earlier, with a sigh he sat back down and crossed one leg over.

Emilia took the seat opposite him.

“I told you to stay in Devon. You defied my orders” Nikolas said. He needed to be firm, his parents had never shown him affection and he grew up fine.

“You don’t follow orders”

He furrowed his brows in confusion, “Who would dare give me orders?”

“No one” Emilia replied.

Nikolas uncrossed his leg, he leaned forward elbows on knees. “How well did you cover your tracks?”

Sad eyes looked back at him, just like Benjamin she saw right through him.

“You raised me in your image Nik. I am both competent and resilient”, Emilia wasn’t talking about her time in L.A and he knew it. “You don’t have to worry about my heart being broken.”

They sat in silence for a while, both in their own thoughts. He never understood females, his mother being the only female person in his life, left him when he and Nikki where ten, he’d hated her for dying. After that he’d thought all women where weak and frivolous.

Nikolas hesitated, “Mickey is in the connecting room”. Emilia stood up immediately heading directly to the door . He let her go and stayed behind in his chair, from where he sat he could hear her sobs. He pictured what he saw, linen gauze covering half of Mickeys head, left side if his head the hair was shaven off because of the stitches. Both hands where in wrist splints, plates and screws that Emilia wouldn’t be able to see in both his legs for the femur fractures. Then there was the tube down Mickeys windpipe, hooking him up to a ventilator along with an IV drip to make sure he didn’t catch pneumonia.

When Nikolas could no longer stand it he followed Emilia into the room, she stood a feet away her from the bed one arm wrapped around herself and one hand over her mouth. “He will wake up soon Emilia”, Nikolas murmured placing a tentative hand on her shoulder.

“I know he loves Ian” She cried turning to fling herself at him. Nikolas wrapped his arms around her, one hand stroking her hair as she spoke into his chest, “but I don’t mind, I just need him to wake up.”

A coma does not last more than a few weeks, anything more the term changed from coma to ‘vegetive sate’. What was ‘a few’ he’d ask the doctors, how was this a scientific range. Some people claimed ‘a few’ as three, some said it was anything ‘more than two and less than ten’ he had ranted, the doctors gave him no response.

XXX

 **Colin**   **Milkovich**  
James Paxton was currently residing in Lake Shore-Lake Vista, Colin held his brothers son in one hand, and in the other Molly's . The three of them walked up to the iron gates of the mansion, Colin briefly let go of Yev’s hand to press on the intercom. There was a buzz and without any response on the other end he heard a click that indicated the lock on the gate was disengaged. Colin looked down at Yev , “Well, it’s now or never buddy”. They continued up the path, passed a water fountain, well manicured hedges and up the front step. A plump middle age lady in a maid outfit with hands clasped in front of her greeted them with a small curtsy. Colin swallowed unsure of himself, he mirrored her actions and curtsied back.  
Silently they were led into the foyer and up a winding staircase, when they were on the second floor he looked over the railing at the floor below. The mansion was flashy and excessive with its marble flooring and tacky statues that stood in each corner. The maid gestured them to enter the first door on the left, as the three of them stepped through she closed the door behind them. It was cold but he sun shone through the large double doors making the room bright, every furniture in the room was a level of beige. There was an elegant cream coloured lounge set that looked too elegant to be comfortable, the drapes were intricate, folded and twisted so that it resembled grecian dress while the carpet was a pale cream.

Standing with his back to them was James Paxton himself.

Colin unsure how to gain the man's attention faked a cough. He hadn’t been with Mickey and Iggy when they’d met with James last time to discuss the value of the Milkovich home, of course by that point the Milkovich's already knew they wouldn’t sell. Mickey was just curious about James and what price he was willing to pay. When James turned he was exactly as Mickey had described him. James Paxton looked like he’d never done hard work in his life, he in his late 50’s but looked younger. Fit, decent looking and had that spark in his eye the Colin didn’t trust.

“Colin, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you.” They shook hands and James turned to Molly and Yevgeny. “And who do we have here?”

Colin made the introductions, “The princess’s name is Molly and this ones Yev”

On queue Yev stepped forward and stretched out his hand to James, “Hi, I’m Yev. Molly needs to go to the bathroom”

James let out a booming laugh, “Yev, I believe you are Mickeys son. I’m sorry to hear about your dad”. If Yev or Colin where offended they didn’t let it show. “The bathrooms down the hallway. Last door on the left”

Once Yev took Molly’s hand and left the two of them in the office James motioned for Colin to sit on the lounge. Colin was glad Yev was out of the room got straight to the point, he produced the deed to the Milkovich house and a power of attorney letter stating he was authorised to represent the Milkovich’s on all legal matters- including the sale of their home.

“Last time you offered Mickey 42 Million for the house, I'm here to accept that offer” Colin stated.

It was unnerving having James Paxton study him, he felt like a bug under a microscope lens. The man smiled with all his teeth and lent forward examining the papers Colin laid out, moments later he stood up, went to his desk and came back with a cheque book. James flipped open the book and looked up at Colin before twisting his Fountain Pen, “You know what Mickey said to me when I offered him 20 times the current value of your house?”. Colin shook his head and James continued, “He told me I could take my 40Mil and shove it where the sun don't fuckin' shine."

Colin swallowed, “Ah, I believe it was just a figure of speech”

James shook his head smiling ruefully, “I don’t think so Colin. Mickey wasn’t a man of vision. You know I tried to show him and Iggy the vision I have for New Orleans, they of course looked at the model city and didn’t get it”. James wrote on the cheque, then looked up at Colin, “I can see you aren’t like your brothers. You Colin, are a man who knows what he needs to do. You know the family is in trouble and have come here to do something about it, I commend a man who knows when he’s loss the war and willing to ask for help. Yeah, I heard about the lawsuit. Your sisters going to need a really good lawyer too if she’s to get no jail time”.

James handed him the cheque. Colin countered the zeroes on the end of the figure, not as much as he’d expected, “This is just 5 Million”

That smile with all teeth came back. “Twice as much value then the house but nothing compared to what I offered Mickey. This is still a generous amount Colin”.

He ran a hand through his unruly curls, “This is nowhere enough”

“At the end of the day I’m a business man, I hope you can understand”

XXX

One week later

**Benjamin Ryder-Mikkelsen**

Yesterday Lip had sneaked Ben in to see Ian. Lip made sure Fiona had gone back to the hotel for a 6 hour sleep to prepare for a long trip home. They’d shaken hands and spoke about that time he visited the EMT station. For Ian it had been only two days, but for Ben it had been five years ago. It was only a short conversation, Ben once again using the excuse that he was here to promote all the public servants at the hospital. He wanted to know how Ian was doing, if he thought his body was capable of a 13 hour drive from New Orleans back to Chicago. Ian said he was, and they left it at that.  
Benjamin didn’t liked the idea of Ian leaving, when he’d found out he confronted Fiona. They'd met in the corridors but she didn’t know him, she’d been a bit star struck at first but when she found out what he wanted, she became frosty. He’d tried to be reasonable, claimed it was wrong to split Ian from Mickey, that if he regained his memory it would kill Ian to know he left Mickey’s side. She knew he was right but she’d also pressed her point across, if he stayed here he would eventually hear about Mickeys condition. It would slow down Ians own recovery, he might not recover being that he was also bipolar, it might very well push him over the edge. In the end Iggy had stopped their arguing by stepping in, quietly told them both he agreed with Fiona, that Ian should go home to Chicago and forget about the Milkovich’s. He only asked that they not go back to the Gallagher house because there would be media and fans there already which would not help with Ian considering he didn’t know he had fans. Fiona agreed, they would stay in her apartment in Chicago, it was a two bedder but it would fit all the Gallagher’s. The last thing Iggy asked was that Fiona accept two of the bodyguards Ben had brought from England. Whoever attacked Ian and Mickey might still be out there, it was better to be safe.

Nik had been present as the three of them made plans, which Ben was concerned about. It was unlike Nikolas to sit back but that was what he did, not even bothering to listen half the time. Fiona called Carl who was on his way home, instead of Southside he would go straight to her apartment, remove the TV and any other devices that would allow Ian access to the outside world.

XXX

**Frank and Svetlana**

Frank woke with a start, something loud slammed down next to him. He opened his eyes to find Svetlana with her arms crossed glaring down at him, with cracked lips he tried to talk, “Thank god, I need water”

“Water or beer?”

A week strapped down to the bed with hospital food fed to him by a dozen different Milkovich’s left him disorientated. Still Frank took careful consideration to what Svetlana was offering, “Can I have both?”

“Yes”” Svetlana held up a rubber tube. “But first we need to insert this. Jamie and Colin have been complaining about having to change your bed pan”

Frank shook his head, “No, no water or beer. I don’t need it”. There was no way in hell he was going to let Svetlana insert a catheter in him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok next chapter Mickey


	5. The Long Con - part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a couple of comments that the last chapter was hard to follow. I guess it was, and probably more so because you don't know where this story is going (but predictable is boring too?). 
> 
> This is bad writing/ storytelling on my part :(
> 
> This 3rd series is much more different than the other two, mostly because in my AU Mickey and Ian are not teenagers, they're men almost in their 30s by this stage. They also need hurdles that will test them and because I don't do jealousy kind of tests it has to be this way for me.
> 
> This ones dedicated to the TV show LOST. The Long con being an episode from Lost that I have thought a lot about over the years for no particular reason other than I really like long con scenarios and the show. So it was perfect.

**Over one week ago**

**Mandy, Emilia** **and** **Miles**  
In a small coffee shop opposite Grand Park, Miles, Mandy and Emilia sat tucked into a dark nook around a rickety old table. They all held steaming cups of assorted drinks, Miles was sipping on hot chocolate with marshmallows while the girls chose a simple Mocha. Mandy wore big dark Tiffany sunglasses and a brunette bob wig in order to go unnoticed, her trench coat made her feel like she was a secret agent on a mission.  
Emilia put down her pen. She looked over at Miles who was biting end of his pen, his posted note still blank. Mandy had finished first, folded over four times her note sat in the middle of the table. Emilia folded her piece of paper exactly as Mandy’s then slid it across the table so the two notes sat side by side. Both girls looked at one another, Emilia shrugged while Mandy rolled her eyes. Both where losing patience with Miles, especially when neither of them planned for him to tag along on their trip.

“Miles, today please” Emilia finally snapped slapping a hand down on the table. Miles took the pen out of his mouth and quickly wrote on his paper all the while using one hand to cover what he was writing from the two girls.

“You know we’re going to read all three in the next 30 seconds don’t you?” Mandy asked.

“But we agreed we won’t divulge who wrote what!” Miles exclaimed while folding neatly his note into four. Like a scammer on a street with the ‘where’s the ball game’ Miles shuffled the three handwritten notes until he was sure they wouldn’t know which note belonged to whom, “Now remember what we promised, you can’t say which one is yours and no one is allowed to guess either”.

Both Mandy and Emilia nodded just to hurry Miles along.

Emilia picked up one note and unfolded it. She looked at her cohorts, “Death”

“Tattoo on forehead”, Mandy read from the second note.

With a white face Miles picked up the last one, slowly he unfolded it, cleared his throat. “Steal all personal belongings”.

“Seriously?” Emilia asked Miles disbelievingly.

Miles crossed his arms “Hey, that’s not fare!”. He glared at Emilia, “You don’t know that one mine”

Emilia held up her hand, “Fine. Let’s do all three in that order”

He visibly paled even more, all three notes now open on the table before him. Miles read over them at least a dozen times before looking up. “Can we kill Andrew last? I don’t want to tattoo a dead guy”.

Once the girls agreed Miles went back to drinking his hot chocolate leaving the plan to them. It wasn’t very often he got to have chocolate so he didn’t want to ruin the special occasion by having to arrange how to off a guy he’d met over a year ago. He sat back and listened to the girls discus the how’s and where’s in hushed voices, they hatched their plan that morning with the decision to carry it out later that night. Emilia called Peyton to go through the logistics, they would need his help to pull it off. Security camera’s in the hotel would need to be hacked, a gun would need to be acquired and a getaway vehicle organised. Having dealt with a few coverups since being hired by Nikolas, Peyton made a few recommendations. No guns, too messy, he would help them make it look like an accident.

Within three hours the three of them had a solid plan, even Miles was now keen on the idea of getting rid of Andrew once Mandy replayed the voicemail he had left her over the last few weeks since he’d been released. Although he didn’t proclaim his participation to organising the ambush she believed he was involved. Miles agreed, it was too much of a coincidence, he’d seen the video of Andrew beating up Mickey last year and knew what the guy was capable of. This time it seemed he’d hired someone to do the job. It was also Ian’s fault Andrew had landed in prison, fabricating his intention to flee the country while under investigation.

At 3:30pm Mandy checked herself into The Garland under a fake name. She charmed the young man at the front desk to change her room floor from 7 to 12, number 12 was her lucky number she claimed. Lettie Brown needed some luck because last week she had caught her fiancé in bed with her cousin just a month away from her wedding day. The concierge was sympathetic but hopeful as he handed her the key pass to her room, even let her know he would be working the night shift if she needed a shoulder to cry on. By the time midnight rolled around Mandy had drunk her way through most of the minibar. She didn’t need liquid courage, the alcohol was more to cease her worry over Mickey. As she sat on the bed littered with empty miniature bottles she thought of the many times her brother had taken beatings for her. She didn’t remember when it started, she couldn’t recall a time where if he was around and their dad was in a mood to be violent that Mickey didn’t antagonise Terry further just so he could take the heat off her. Her earliest memory was when she was around 6, just soon after their mom had died she’d been cooking Terry’s dinner. The steak on the stove had been burnt because she’d been distracted watching The Simpsons, Terry who’d been drinking was furious. He’d been one step away from choking her to death when Mickey had come home from baseball practice, Mickey smashed an empty bear bottle over their dad’s head. It was enough to make Terry let her go, but not enough to kill or knock him unconscious. That night was also the first time she remembered seeing the police. Terry had taken his fist to Mickey to the point that he wouldn’t wake up. She’d tried everything once Terry went to bed, she shook him, begged him to wake up, she even remembered filling a pot full of water from kitchen sink and tipping it over his head. By the time her other brothers came in through front door Mickey was lying on the kitchen floor soaked wet, bleeding and unconscious. Iggy had run to the neighbours house to use their phone to call for an ambulance. The ambulance had taken Mickey to the hospital and the police took Terry away for a few days.

The knock on her door caused Mandy to jump, wiping the tears from her eyes she stood up and checked the large clock on the wall. It was almost 2am, she opened the door and let Emilia and Miles in. They were both dressed in black fitted clothing, Emilia carried a black side bag on her shoulder and Miles with his usual brown backpack. She nodded at them both before closing the door behind her. They followed Emilia down the hallway passing a security camera positioned on the ceiling overlooking the elevator door. Emilia gave a thumps up to the camera, her grin feral before they stopped at room 1208, Andrews room. The three of them rotated their position, Mandy took out her spare pass, inserted it into the door slot, saw the green indicator light flash and heard the click sounding the door was unlocked. She copied Emilia’s earlier signal, she put her hand up and gave the camera a thumbs up before entering the room.

Miles was last, he bumped into Emilia who from the momentum pushed Mandy into the centre of the hotel room that was mirror image of her own. A circle dining table sat it one corner, a couch along the wall, the table and chairs and a king size bed where Andrew Pike lay face down asleep. He was snoring so loud they all looked at one another with smiles on their faces. Emilia slid her bag off her shoulder and onto the couch silently, she undid the zip and pulled out surgical gloves for everyone, followed by a vial of Ketamine and syringe. She passed the last two to Mandy. Without a sound Mandy undid the cap of the syringe and pulled up an estimated amount of ketamine, she held it up against the side table lamp that was on. Miles and Emilia gave her the nod and Mandy proceeded towards Andrew, he was dressed in shorts and a long sleeve cotton shirt, there was plenty of bare skin to inject the needle. Miles pointed to the fleshy part of Andrews leg indicating where he thought it was best, she gave him a nod and swiftly plunged the needle into his leg.  
Emilia counted to 20 before slapping Andrew with a gloved hand across the face, when he didn’t move Miles turned on all the lights. They dragged Andrew off the bed and seated him on the chair while another chair was placed in front of him. A tattoo kit was placed on the table, Mandy prepared the ink and assembled the gun while Miles went through all of Andrews belongings. Emilia pushed the spare chair away finding it would be easier to tattoo Andrew standing up, gun in hand Mandy hit the power switch for her and the buzzing sound filled the room. Miles, closest to the TV remote on the left side of the bed reached and pressed the power button, he cycled through the channels until he saw Jamie Oliver. With Jamie’s pommy accent drowning out the tattoo gun buzz they all went on with their tasks. Miles looking for Andrews phone and wallet, Mandy powered up Andrews laptop and connected it to the hotels free wifi and Emilia in block letters tattooed the word DICK to their targets forehead.

When Emilia was finished they found they still had a spare hour to kill. Miles claimed he wanted a go at the tattoo gun, Mandy admitted she’d never used one either. Emilia had an idea from one of her favourite characters in a novel, they would have time and spare ink to tattoo “I AM A SADISTIC PIG AND RAPIST” just like Lisbeth.

Emilia went through the room one last time before following Miles out, Mandy followed after she loosened the hotel phone cable. By 4am Mandy was back in her room asleep while Miles and Emilia where in a cab to the airport.

XXX

When the phone in Miles pocket rang he didn’t think twice about answering the call, he blamed it on lack of sleep. When he heard Ben's voice on the other end of the line Miles turned to Emilia, she was sitting next to him in the back of the cab and heard Ben’s questioning voice as well. Emilia took the phone out of Mile’s hand and disconnected the call.

  
XXX

  
13 hours later Andrew Pike regained consciousness feeling hungry but numb. He went to the bathroom to take a piss, passed by the wide mirror and stopped short. He looked at his reflection, the word across his forehead then to his bare chest where more words where inked jaggedly into him. Even dulled, he knew that the tattoo was painful, the red inflammation on the skin told his brain that he was in excruciating pain. He ran to the phone on the bedside table and placed the handset to his ear, when he got no dial tone he went looking for his mobile. He couldn’t find it, he recalled leaving it on the dining table next to his baseball cap and some coke he’d scored earlier on. Seeing the coke still there he did two lines before leaving his room in just his shorts. He needed to get the concierge to call the police to take him to the hospital so they could remove the ugly words on his skin, although he had no tattoos before, he know what these were.  
The elevator took forever, he hit the down arrow multiple times. It felt like 20 minutes later before the elevator chimed and the arrow indicator lit up, the elevator door opened. Without checking Andrew Pike, high as a kite stepped in. He fell 12 floors, the elevator car stuck on the 14th floor due to system glitch.

  
XXX

**Now**

**Iggy, Colin and** **Jamie**

“I don’t know man, it’s a fucking lot to just give away” Colin said eyeing the cheque in his hand.

They were standing on the hospital rooftop, looking out at the park across the road that was lit up like a carnival.

Iggy took the cheque out of Colin’s hand, “Just stick to the plan Colin. Jamie, you got everyone ready because we need to move all the money real quick”.

Jamie was agitated, he’d chosen a bad month to quit smoking. He currently had four nicotine patches on his arm and wasn’t impressed with Iggy’s lack of trust. “I said I got it covered, every charity Mickey has given to is gonna get a piece. A minute before we file for bankruptcy we will literally own nothing but the clothes off our backs.”

XXX

**Mickey**

He had trouble opening his eyes but Mickey sensed that something heavy was on his chest, he was having trouble breathing because of it. Mickey lifted his arms to push at he object on him expecting it to be either Ian’s head or arm, instead he connected with something warm that although was a human body wasn’t Ian. Mickey forced his eyes to open, it took him a while, but with the help of his fingers he managed to pry his eyelids up and take in his surroundings. Instantly Mickey knew he was in the hospital, if not because of the walls and shit decor then the bed alone gave it away. It was uncomfortable a fuck. He also saw the object of his main discomfort, a girl at least 2 years younger than Yevgeny was kneeling on his chest. Her bony knees dug into him, he wanted to laugh because they were dressed similar, both in hospital gowns.

“I’m Bambi”, the girl said.

Mickey had trouble understanding her, maybe it was his hearing or she spoke funny because of her two missing front teeth. “Bambi from Disney?” He asked. She had the biggest brown eyes he’d ever seen, it was most likely because she was so tiny and frail. Her hair was cut like you saw on comedy skits where parents did home cut hairs, you put a bowl over the kids head and cut around it. He wanted to offer her food, she looked like she hadn’t eaten in weeks.

Mickey tried to move his legs but found he couldn’t, he couldn’t see past her from his position but knew they were still there. Just unresponsive.

“Can you get the doctor for me Bambi?” Mickey asked.

The girl shuffled back and bent down kissing his forehead, she put her lips to his ear. “Can you take me home?”

Mickey forgot about his legs for a moment. He turned to the girl, “Where’s your mom?”

Big brown eyes regarded him, “Bad children don’t have moms”

“Bambi”, Mickey said while be brought one arm up to push the girls bangs out of her eyes, “There aren’t any bad children”. He didn’t know her, but the way she looked at him with doubt broke his heart. He tried again, “What about your dad?”

She shook her head, “My Tutu is sick”

“Who?” Mickey asked confused. He was starting to think he was dreaming or hallucinating.

“Can you take me to my Tutu?” She asked again.

Mickey nodded, “I can take you to your Tutu Bambi”

Bambi’s face lit up, her amber eyes reminded him of honey. She leaned down and whispered to him as if someone else might hear their private conversation in, “It’s Bramble. Like Gamble, but with a B. That how my Tutu taught me. Can you get up now and take me home?”

Mickey tried to move his legs again and whispered back to her honestly, “I don’t know Bramble but I'm gonna fuckin’ do my best.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part 2
> 
> Merriam-Webster definition of BRAMBLE
> 
> : a rough prickly shrub or vine


	6. The Long Con, Part 2 ( The decoy, entrapment and noose)

They past all the restaurants ten minutes ago, Ben had kept quiet not stating the obvious because he was an adult compared to the other three in the car. When Squeezy pulled over in a suburban street with no restaurant or fast food in site he couldn’t hide his dismay any longer.

Ben turned to Squeezy in the confines of his seat, “Thought you said we were getting steak”

Squeezy shook his head, “I said ‘Stakeout’. Can’t help it if you got selective hearing mate, always thinkin’ ‘bout food like ya always do”

“Stakeout?”

Squeezy indicated with a thumb to the backseat, “Kids wanna do a bit of B&E. Needed a chauffeur and I thought considering one of these squirt belongs to you, you’d wanna tag along. So ‘ere we are”.

Ben twisted further in his seat so he could look at ‘his squirt’ Molly and Yev who both had their head down studying a piece of paper. “Guys, what's going on?” He asked. When he got no answer Ben snatched the paper out of their hands and took a look at what they were so engrossed in. Even with poor lighting he instantly made out it was a blueprint of a house; a large one. Turning the page over he found Molly’s handwritten notes containing the address, passcode to the alarms, multiple safe combinations and numerous tidbits that would be useful to someone who needed to level the house to to the ground.

“Molly?”, Ben prompted.

His daughter took a deep breath, “Dad, Yev and I got to go in and recover the bugs we put in there”.

“Bugs?”

“Like the ones father is always planting on you” Molly explained.

Molly pointed to the mansion across the road with an extravagant iron gate so he turned even further noting the mansion was the very one on the blueprint. He didn’t know what to say to his daughter, she looked like an angel sitting there in her green peacoat that matched her eyes. He always got complements when they were together out in public. How she was the most beautiful child they’d ever see and how much she looked like him. Passerby’s didn’t know how much of a handful she really was. Even when Nik and he first took her home she demanded too much of his time, she’d rolled off the bed and cried when she was meant to be sleeping. Feeding times was the worst, why couldn’t babies keep their food down? These days he was the one that took her hiking, played dolls with her and even tucked her into bed at night, he was sure it wasn’t in his duty to reprimand Molly on what she could or could not do.

Ben studied the blueprint again, he observed the markings on the blueprint. “When were you guys even here?”

Yev leaned forward in the seat holding onto the headrest in front of him, “The other day with Uncle Colin”.

“He brought you here as a decoy?” Ben asked disbelievingly. The Milkovich’s where reckless but he couldn’t believe Colin would put the kids lives in danger. “I need to have a word to Colin”. Maybe even something stronger than words considering it was Molly and Yevgeny’s life he would have put in danger.

“Don’t blame Colin mate. You seen these kids? Probably used ‘im as the decoy, poor fucker didn’t stand a bloody chance”, Squeezy said turning in his seat.

Ben didn’t miss the wink Squeezy gave the kids and thought about it. “Molly, you said Colin was taking you out for ice cream the other day”.

Yev nodded, “We had ice-cream after. Don’t get mad at uncle Colin, he was in a bit of a bind because we guilted him into taking us. We’d been at the hospital day in and day out for so long and needed some fresh air, it was kind of depressing just sitting around waiting for dad to wake up. Every time Dad’s fingers would twitch I would race off and get the doctors, but every time they explain to me it didn’t mean anything.”

Ben didn’t know what to say, he got a bit teary just from Yev’s explanation. He now knew it was used to pull one over Colin and couldn’t be sure Yev wasn’t trying to pull one over him as well. He couldn’t very well get angry at Yev when potentially some of it were true.

Ben studied the codes memorising them, “So, just the bugs right?”

Both kids nodded. He folded the blueprint up and slid it into his shirt pocket and opened the car door, turning back Ben pulled the glock visible in Squeezy’s holster out for himself. He’d not thought to arm himself to dinner. Ben gave the three remaining in the car a nod, “If I'm not back in ten…” Ben looked at the house across the road where he could see the light upstairs still on, a man’s silhouette visible. “Shit, of course I'm gonna be back in ten. When I get back we’ll go for steaks”.

Ben didn’t bother with the security gate even though the notes contained the access code. Going over the fence from the neighbours house he scaled over the side wall landing in James’ backyard. Locating the utility box was slightly harder due to the lack of moonlight; after running into a shrub and stepping over some flowerbeds Ben felt the box attached to the side wall. He flipped the switch to the power plunging the mansion into darkness. Without hesitation Ben climbed up the guttering until he reached the terrace of the office, once there Ben pulled on the handle of the terrace doors that gave way easily, he pushed and entered the warmth of the office that was now empty of its owner. Molly and Yev had been detailed with their notes, the maid always left at a quarter past eight. James Paxton was home alone in his office smoking a cigar after dinner while he reviewed his development plans. Ben went swiftly through the rooms picking up the bugs as he went; bathroom, bedrooms, the library, office, hallway. He had to admit, the kids did their homework.  
Ben was taking a detour down to the cellar when the lights came back on, it seemed James knew where the utility box was unlike one billionaire he knew. He took out his phone and snapped a photo of the rows upon rows of wine bottles before him and sent it in a text to Nikolas accompanied with a question mark.

**NIK** : First row, second bottle from your left

Ben grinned loving how Nikolas never asked any questions, just knew exactly what he was up to and what he wanted. He pulled the bottle from its rung and read the label, Chevel Blank 1947. Tucking it under his arm Ben went up the stairs, down the foyer and out the front door.

XXXX

Yev got an earful from his uncle Iggy, followed by a hug and then a knuckle rub. Iggy, Colin and Jamie listened to James Paxton on the recording. Iggy had been the one to call James telling him that the Milkovich house was not for sale even if they’d been given a cheque for it. There was a heated argument about Colin being dumb enough to sell the house on behalf of all the Milkovich’s. James claimed a deal was a deal. Iggy told James that Colins’ paperwork was a forgery, Colin had no right to sell the house and that they’d buy it back. They would give the $5 Million back once their money wasn’t tied in the legal battle with the Milkovich show. James had declined and Iggy made a remark about James having no conscious, he was just out to make profit, that he had no care about the middle to low income people of New Orleans. Iggy listed statistics of just exactly how many people would become homeless and jobless with Jame’s development and went on to accuse it benefitting no one but the wealthy. James Paxton didn’t disagree but instead made a wager that he could match every dollar the Milkovich’s had ever given to charity just to prove he too could be Mother Theresa and filthy rich.

Jamie turned to Yev once the recording ended, “I got just the right software to edit this motherfucker”

XXX

She was accused of murdering Andrew Pike, they were willing to cut a deal if she pleaded guilty. It was alleged Mandy had orchestrated the early release of Andrew from prison just so she could kill him. The prosecutor had a witness claiming she charmed him into changing her room so she could be on the same floor as Andrew Pikes. The tattoo freshly etched into his skin was attestation to a crime of passion or hate, something everyone knew the Milkovich’s felt for Andrew. Mandy was entitled to a lawyer, the best of the best offered her their services. They wanted to represent her just for the publicity itself, when she declined they all offered to work her case pro bono. Mandy didn’t budge, she accepted legal aid and a court appointed attorney, both had never dealt with a murder charge, let alone such a high profile one.

On the eighth day in lock up the hotel staff called the police, they managed to recover the missing hours of the surveillance from that day. The footage revealed Mandy had checked in at approximately four in the afternoon, left at eight that evening doing nothing more than pass by Andrews’ room, exactly what the prosecutor already had. It was the hours which came later that was missing. Extra surveillance showed Mandy returning with a bag full of groceries an hour later but never leaving her hotel room again. No matter how many times the surveillance was reviewed. Mandy Milkovich did not leave the room after returning from the convenient store down the road from the hotel, not until the detectives came knocking at her door next morning. The toxicology report came back that very same day; Andrew Pike had a large quantity of cocaine in his system at his time of death. The charges were dropped when the surveillance clearly showed the image of Andrew leaving his room in nothing but his shorts and stepping into the elevator shaft. No one had pushed him, certainly not Mandy Milkovich.

The media went into meltdown but got no comment from Mandy or any of the Milkovich’s.

Ten days after being locked away Mandy was free and on her way back to New Orleans.

XXX

The second time round Mickey woke up, it was to the sound of soft humming in his left ear, unlike last time his eyelids opened on first command. The first person he saw was his son sitting on the hospital bed by his feet. His legs where bare and Yev was pulling out his leg hairs one strand at a time. Even though he couldn’t actually feel his legs he winced because it looked damn painful. The humming to his left stopped shifting his attention. Mickey turned half expecting to meet wide amber eyes, instead he recognised Molly, she saw that he was awake and gave him a smile so bright all his reservations about her and Yev being too co-dependant vanished. She started up her humming again. It wasn’t anything he knew but once or twice he’d caught English murmuring the same tune to Molly in Russian when he didn’t think anyone was around. As he lay there, both Molly and he watched his son randomly pluck hair from his shins .

The sound of the door opening disrupted Mickey, Svetlana appeared at the front of his bed, she gasped and hurried forward. Bending down she kissed Yevgeny on the forehead then did the same to Molly and finally she gave him a kiss too. He was grateful for the glass of water she handed him next.

“We were so fucking worried. Stupid man, scared us all shit!”

“Hey Yev”, he croaked when he saw Yev realised he was a wake. His son’s face turned red, signs he was struggling not to cry. Yev crawled carefully up to him and wrapped rangy arms around his neck. With both their foreheads leant on one another Mickey soothed Yev, “It’s okay buddy”.

Svetlana disappeared shortly after only to return with a handful of doctors. They gave him an extra dose of morphine which he welcomed because he could feel a headache coming on.

A doctor pushed the remote to slowly inclined the bed, with the change in position he felt a pain much worse than a migraine take place. His hips felt like it was being torn from his upper body, “Jesus fucking Christ!”. Tears sprung unbidden from his eyes as the doctors told him that pain was a good sign. If Yev wasn’t still in the room he would have told the doctors where they could stick the pain, instead he tried to control his breathing.

“We’re just going to test some of your reflexes”, one of the doctors explained as he took out a rubber hammer from his coat pocket. The doctor proceeded to tap his ankles which to his relief caused a jerk in his foot. The hammer to his right knee however caused no reflex to his leg, even he knew that it was meant to cause his leg to swing. “Don’t be to concerned Mr Milkovich, you’ve been in bed for a few weeks now and your muscles are week. We just need to get you into physiotherapy to ensure you build back your muscles and motor skills.”

Mickey just nodded not really listening, he was too busy willing his legs to swing. The left leg did, his big toe he could even wiggle, but the right, his stupid left leg was useless. He let Svetlana ask the doctors a few more questions while he poked and picked at stitches he could see on his left leg. Before the doctors left they told him they would be back in a few hours once they organised a full CT scan, nothing to be worried about they assured him again.

He swung himself back into the bed slowly, it took him a few minutes and he was now sweating with exertion. “What?” He asked when Svetlana did nothing but stand at the side of his bed with here arms crossed disapprovingly.

“Don’t what me. You really scared Yevgeny. Not waking up for weeks, always so lazy!”

Mickey looked at Yev, “Where you scared buddy?”. His son nodded. “Listen, your dad’s a tough mother fucker right. I’ll be walking in no time”

Yev climbed off the bed and onto the same chair Molly was using as a step ladder to reach his bed, the both of them now looking down at him from their position. “Dad”, Yev said.

“Yes Yev?”

“I love you”

He nodded too choked up with emotion not even talk, tears welled up I'm his eyes and the pain he felt in his hips a moment ago was nothing compared to the feeling in his chest. Mickey risked turning half his body over to hug his son to him, “I love you too Yevgeny” he whispered back.

Svetlana tasked Yev and Molly to go find his uncles, once they were gone Mickey rolled his eyes at her. “Can you let Ian know I’m fuckin’ awake and to get his ass in here” Mickey said as he started peeling off the wrist splinter on each of his hands. Svetlana’s reply was drowned out by the pound sound of the Velcro ripping apart.

“What did you say?”

Without answering she threw both hands in the air and stormed out of the room.

“Fucking rude bitch” Mickey hollered back to the empty room. He spent the next few solitary moments checking out his body. Being a man he checked to make sure he still had his package, satisfied it was in working order he examined his legs, although they were mostly unresponsive at least they were still there. They were still bruised in most areas like the rest of his body but he felt only mild discomfort. The ribs and chest were bound in gauze still so without being able to see what damage was underneath he prodded the covered area, letting out a hiss of pain. His arms were mostly fine if it wasn’t for his hands being weak, his fingers weren’t as nimble as he remembered but as the doctors said, they should come back in time. When he got to his head he felt around, there was bandage there too but he pried it off.

“Fuck” he whispered when he felt the shorn side of his head. Mickey tried to count the bumps which were either stitches or staples but was interrupted when he got to stitch number twelve. Mickey was expecting Ian but instead got English and Ben, “Nice to see you guys but where the fuck is Ian?”

Benjamin had the decency to look away. English didn’t, “I refuse to talk while you have your…”, English made a motion to his appearance.

Mickey looked down at his body. The hospital gown was still wide open from his personal inspection, he muttered under his breath about English being a prude which he saw gained a smirk from Ben and pulled the blanket he'd pushed aside up to his chest. “I didn’t know you were so delicate”.

English pulled the chair by his bed back until it was up against the hospital wall, he sat down and crossed his leg. Ben looked around and finding no available chair perched himself on the windowsill.

“Just fucking tell me where Ian is.”

Just a moment silence and then English shrugged, “He is back in Chicago with his family”

“He’s what!” Mickey screeched.

English shrugged again, “Blind, doesn't remember you and back in Chicago”

“Nik!” Ben exclaimed glaring at English.

“What?” English asked looking from one to the other.

Mickey rubbed at his eyes, trying to process what English was saying, “He’s blind?”

English nodded, “It’s temporary. Phillip says he can see shapes and outlines”.

“And he doesn't remember me?” Mickey asked his voice wavering.

Benjamin stood up stepping in front of English cutting off what might of come out of Nikolas’s mouth. “He’s got short term memory loss. It happens to trauma patients, he just needs some time”

Mickey lay back down on his pillow, the weight of everything Benjamin didn’t say pinned him to the bed. He’d woken up and Ian wasn’t here, Ian was blind and suffered from amnesia. He didn’t know what to think so instead he lay there staring up at the white ceiling trying to hold back tears.

“Where are my bothers, and where the fuck is Mandy?” Mickey asked sitting back up. The door opened just right after Mickeys questions and all the Milkovich’s trailed in, lead by Yevgeny and Molly. Mandy hugged him first, it was the kind of hug he knew was going to leave bruises on his bruises. She didn’t let go for a full five minutes and when she did he saw that she was crying.

“Fuck Mands, I'm not dead”, he huffed trying to make things light between them.

Mandy nodded and smiled as she wiped her cheek with the back of her hand.

 

XXX

Mickey stabbed at the green jello the nurse given him. He’d told everyone to get out once he realised they were not being honest to him. Getting a straight answer out of Colin was like trying to catch a fly with chopsticks. Iggy was worse, the ass pretended he couldn’t quite understand what he was asking. Mandy and Jamie hid behind every other Milkovich once they got their hugs in, they disappeared behind all the taller cousins standing in the back and out of his view. All his cousins just stood around shrugging as if they didn’t have two brain cells to rub together.

He’d ask English to stay but asked Ben to go. Ben he noted, was already out the door before he finished his request.

“What’s wrong with Jamie?” Mickey asked English. He’d seen his younger brother for all of five minutes but knew something was wrong straight away. Something was wrong with all his siblings but Jamie was more so.

English made himself comfortable in the chair, “I think it's day 16”

“Ah”, Mickey said as if it all made sense, which it did. Jamie quit cigarettes every year, sometimes even two to three times a year. The Milkovich show dedicated one episode a season to Jamie Milkovich and his cold turkey approach to quitting tobacco. One time it actually involved turkey, because Jamie had decided to take the saying very literally. He’d eaten cold smoked turkey for breakfast, lunch and dinner during one of his quitting bouts. Lots of fans loved him for his constant will to quit, then loved him more when he failed because it made him more human.

“What are they all hiding?” Mickey finally asked. He could tell his family was hiding something from him, they didn’t maintain eye contact and some of them were outright ignoring him.

“I assume a lot” English replied bluntly. “I don’t have the full story because I’ve been busy. Peyton would probably know if you want to find out”

Mickey thought about it, “If you don’t want to know…” he let it trail off. He knew English, the man craved knowledge, hated anything unsolved or not within his control.

“Don’t bait me Mickey” English admonished. “I’m too old to fall for your tricks”. English leaned elbows on his knees with his hands hanging in front of him. “I'll tell you something though Mickey. I had a twin brother once, loved him above all else , including myself. I wish he’d return a small fraction of those feelings, for this I envy you.”

The jello before him became suddenly interesting , it was rare English shared any personal information. He could already tell his siblings where in trouble, it wasn’t just their behaviour but their lack of playfulness.

Mickey looked up, “I need to go get Ian”. He didn’t know what to do about Ian, didn’t want to give it too much thought because it would just muddle up everything. Once he had Ian in front of him he knew things would just fall in to place.

“No”

It was unexpected, Mickey frowned. “What the fuck?”

“No” English repeated sitting back up. “We will get you out of this hospital and somewhere you can rehabilitate. When you can walk you can go get Ian, not before”

Mickey thought about it, the doctors had estimated three to six months. He couldn’t spend another day without Ian beside him let alone months. He didn’t even trust the Gallagher’s to make sure Ian was priority. If they were making sure he was still on his meds or what they were doing to assist with Ian’s own recovery.

“His family will take care of him just fine, Mickey” English said reading him so well. “He found you once, he can do it again”. English stood up indicating it was the end of the discussion, “I will go make arrangements, we can not stay in New Orleans. Is there anywhere you would like to go in particular”.

Mickey shook his head, it didn’t matter where he went if Ian wasn't with him.

Before English was at the door Mickey remembered the promise he’d made to a little girl in his not- so-dreams. “Wait. There's a girl here somewhere, small little thing, maybe a bit younger than Molly. Her name’s Bramble, can you make sure she is all right?”

English raised an eyebrow, “Bramble?”

XXX

Ian felt around for the phone on the wall, he was still getting use to Fiona’s apartment so quite frequently he was knocking things over and stubbing his toe. It was a cordless phone and he knocked it out of the cradle and heard in clatter to the ground. Crouching down Ian patted the floor around him until his figures touched the plastic frame of the hand held phone. This time he gripped it in his hand and felt his way to the lounge which he could make out as a big dark shape in the middle of the room.

“Hey, anyone here?” Ian yelled out loud. He hadn’t expected any response because Carl was meant to be babysitting him today but had to step out and get them something for lunch. Everyone else had to continue on with their life, Fiona was at work as was Debbie. Liam had an exam and Lip was at a job interview- everyone was busy except for him just as he hoped.

Pressing all the buttons until he got the dial tone Ian dialled for directory assistance, it took him a few tries until he guess the number arrangement on the handset. When they connected him to the prison he told the person on the other end that he wanted to book in a visit for Mickey Milkovich.

The line went silent and Ian repeated himself.

His heart was beating so fast and the hand wrapped around the phone was sweating, he was nervous. For the past week he’d been thinking about Mickey, wondering how he was faring in prison, if he wasn't partially blind he would have admitted to wanting to see his ex.

“We do not have anyone by the name of Mickey Milkovich here” the man on the other end of the line replied in a bland voice.

Ian swapped hands holding the phone. “I’m sorry. Can you check under Mikhailo Aleksandr Milkovich”. Ian heard a muffled voice on the other end and pressed the phone closer to his ear. A females voice was telling the man he was speaking to to hang up the call, that people were sick. Ian didn’t understand. “Please, I just want to set up time to see Mickey”.

A female voice replied, “I don’t know what you are playing at but this is a sick joke. What is your name? Do you know that we record all calls and this very call can be traced?”

Ian swallowed but pressed on, he wasn’t doing anything wrong and now that he had made up his mind he needed to see Mickey, he couldn’t give up now. Not unless Mickey didn’t want to see him. “My name is Ian Gallagher. If you can check with Mickey I am sure he put me on his list of accepted visitors”. He was now breathing too fast from the idea that Mickey had removed his name from his list.

“There is no Mickey Milkovich or Mikhailo Aleksandr Milkovich here. Not anymore anyway” the female said coldly seconds before she hung up on him.

Ian slowly let the phone slide from his hand. He sat there dissecting every word the women said. Not any more. No matter which way he looked at it Ian could only come to one conclusion.

Mickey was dead. He’d lost Mickey forever.


	7. Summary of: The Ties that bind us (so far) (not the next chapter) (don't have to read) (more for maryellen)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ha, this summary is a summary of a summary :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to put it in a chapter because the comment section only held 4300 characters...
> 
> This summary was more than 4300 characters

**Summary so far of: The ties that bind us**

**Okay, here goes!**

**Series Two** (just towards the end)  
\- Introduced the Milkovich’s to James Paxton, a billionaire property developer wanting to move in on New Orleans.  
\- Delved further into Mickey and Ian’s future as a couple. Ian’s wants and needs conflicted with what Mickey thought he could offer leaving their future uncertain.  
-Left us with Mickey and Ian being ambushed by four goons and in grave conditions

 **Series Three so far**  
-With Ian and Mickey in critical condition Ben, Nik, Molly and a security team travel to New Orleans.  
-The Gallagher’s arrive. Fiona and Lip go head to head over Fiona’s lack of involvement in all their lives. They come to a truce when Ian wakes up and to everyone's dismay he is partially blind and does not recall the last five years.  
-The Gallagher’s decide it is in Ian’s best interest they don’t reveal he has amnesia, because he is blind there is a high chance they could pull it off alowing Ian to regain. his memory on his own. The main reason behind the decision is their concern over Ian’s mental health. Finding out about Mickey’s coma might trigger his bipolar disorder.  
-The Milkovich’s are sued by the Milkovich show. They've broken their contractual obligations (filming first 10 days of the month), unwilling to film while Mickey is in such a state and refusing to allow the camera men into the hospital to film their inner struggle.  
\- Mandy leaves New Orleans without word to her brothers  
\- Nik (aka English) who parted ways with Ben when they arrived in New Orleans tracks down the four goons that beat up Ian and Mickey. He kills them.  
\- Ben arrives at a contraction site that is to be developed into a housing area, he buries the four bodies for Nik. Ben and Nik find out Miles somehow is involved with the four goons because he answers the phone Ben stole off one of the men.  
\- Mandy Milkovich is arrested in Los Angeles  
\- More details is disclosed about the Milkovich financial woes  
\- The full extent of Mickeys injuries are revealed  
\- Colin sells the Milkovich house to James Paxton because the Milkovich’s are in dire need of money  
\- Ian goes back to Chicago with the Gallagher’s still partially blind and with no recollection of his time in New Orleans or the life he has built with Mickey.  
\- Flash back: Mandy, Miles and Emilia plan and carry out the death of Andrew Pike (in earlier series he is the man who beat up Mickey and went to prison for assault). This explains how Miles was involved with the goons. Although not directly stated, it would indicate that Andrew Pike had hired the goons to hurt Mickey as payback and Mandy had either found out or assumed this.  
\- The Milkovich brothers reveal they are hatching a plan – plan for what is still unknown at this stage.  
\- Mickey wakes up to wraith named Bramble asking him to take her home- not known if he is dreaming or if it actually happened.  
\- Ben cleans up after Molly and Yev who have planted listening devices throughout James Paxton (realestate mogul) mansion by breaking in, taking back the bugs and picking up an expensive bottle of wine in the process.  
\- It is here that the full extent of the con is revealed: Every Milkovich has one or multiple schemes to right a wrong.  
\- Mandy is released and returns back to New Orleans just in time because Mickey wakes up.  
\- Mickey is told Ian has gone back to Chicago and he finds out he does not have full use of his legs.  
\- Mickey tasks Nik with getting him out of hospital. Although he did not outright agree to Niks ‘recommendation’ that he needs to recover before looking for Ian, Mickey doesn't refute it.  
\- Mickey also asks Nik to track down Bramble to make sure she is well.  
\- Ian is staying in Chicago at Fiona’s apartment. He, not knowing that 5 years has passed, thinks Mickey is still in prison for the attempted murder of Sammi. He calls the prison requesting to set up visiting time with Mickey. The call ends with him thinking Mickey is dead because he is told by the prison administrator (receptionist??? Someone help me here) that Mickey was not at the prison any longer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was meant to be a few short paragraphs but somehow it's become over a page long. 
> 
> Did this help Maryellen?


	8. Do you need me to hold your dick while you piss?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I'm late

   Two things- well more than two, but these where the most significant and both occurred within minutes of one another. Firstly Ian regained his 20\20 vision, it was to be expected so although it was good news, he didn’t feel joy. The return of vision was probably due to the hit on the head as he flung himself down the stairwell of Fiona’s apartment once he found out Mickey was dead. Instead of breaking his neck he’d fallen head first into the railing and rolled down three flights of stairs. With a clear vision, bruised forehead and sprained ankle Ian ran out into the street. Hearing people calling out his name he turned assuming he knew the callers, only to find they were strangers. It wasn’t only one or two, everyone on the street started to come up to him calling him by his first name, they all had their phone out and it looked like they were either taking a picture or filming him. He was hugged and passed on to the next person in a perpetual loop, questioned and patted down by strangers in the middle of the Chicago city. Even people in cars stopped, got out and joined the crowd on the street that surrounded him.  
   When Ian felt a strong grip on his shoulder and arm, he turned. Two men who looked a lot like thugs for hire stood behind him; they were dressed in black suits and wore dark sunglasses, both looked like they belonged on the wrestling channel with arms as big as tree stumps. His instinct to ‘haul ass’ kicked in. Ian threw a punch with his free hand, it was unfortunate that the man in black saw it coming and caught the punch with his own as if Ians fist was a softball and his own was a mitt. Ian didn’t stop struggling so the next thing he knew he was yelling at the men to, “Fuck off” which caused him to be shoved to the ground. The onlookers, who moments ago seemed to genuinely care for him shuffled backwards when they saw that the two suited men were armed. It took the guts of a 16 year old girl bellowing, “Leave Ian fucking Gallagher alone!”, right before she launched herself onto one of the suited mans back to rally the onlookers. With the first stone cast the crowd surged forward, their fear forgotten as they saw their favourite Southside-turned-Model lie on the ground. They pelted the two men with whatever they had in their hands, from purses, hessian grocery bags to umbrellas. This continued until both men where laying side by side Ian himself with their arms protecting their head.

Ian ignored everything that was going on around him. On instinct he had put his palms out before hitting the ground, so now his hands where in front of him and with clear vision Ian read the tattoo that looped around three of his fingers. Those three words woven intricately where small but the impact of them was like a punch to the gut. The regaining of his memory was the second significant thing to happen but the more important of the two.  
Pulling his eyes off the ink, Ian turned his head to face one of the suited men lying beside him. The man, although still being pelted with handbags raised an eyebrow at him and with an English accent he could barely understand introduced himself. “We haven’t met, name’s Riffraff. You ready to go home, mate?”

Ian nodded.

 

XXX

   From the moment he woke up until the time the night nurses arrived for their shift change Mickey spent his every minute trying to regain his strength and mobility. The physical therapy session went for a gruelling four hours after breakfast and started up again in the afternoon. When he’d been in the coma the nurses had rubbed down his body five times a day to improve circulation and to ensure there wouldn’t be any blood cots but regardless, with the lack of movement in almost a month his body was weak as a newborn. Transfer training was his main concern. Without being able to get himself out of the bed on his own he was useless. When he wasn’t doing PT, Svetlana helped him practice manoeuvring from the bed to the wheelchair. She did this with him until he was sweating and shaking from pain. Mandy had tried helping him only to quit when he refused to take a break after falling off the bed, landing on his knees and hitting his head on the footrest of the wheelchair. Luckily for him Svetlana didn’t give a fuck that he was in agony, the bitch just told him to shift his ass. Gritting his teeth, Mickey levelled himself from the hospital bed that had been lowered down so it was level with the chair. He put on arm on the wheelchair armrest and pushed up swinging his body along straight after. When his ass found the seat he forced what little control he had on his legs to follow. Firmly in place he looked up at his fake ex-wife and flipped her the bird. Svetlana tried to keep her face in a scowl but he caught the side of her lip curl up.

“Come on Svet, that’s all you’re giving me?”, Mickey asked, a grin on his face. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple and he was feeling lightheaded but this was the fifth successful transfer he’d manage on his own. He deserved more than a lip twitch from the mother of his son.

Svetlana shrugged but her eyes were now a mirror of his own, they were both ecstatic he’d been successful. "Do you need me to hold your dick while you piss?”.

“Fuck no! You stay away from my dick, women” Mickey shouted back as he wheeled himself to the bathroom.

XXX

Cleared for travel by the doctors the next day, Mickey found himself on a private jet headed to an island in the North Pacific Ocean. He wasn’t quite sure how English managed a private jet to pick them up at the Lakefront airport unnoticed. Emilia explained to him that English had some kind of connection with the Royal family and one phone call was all it took to get them out of New Orleans. It was just as well they didn't have to go through customs all things considered. English had put the idea to him that he would recover quite well in a villa that he and Ben owned in the Swiss Alps, they could stay until he’d recover and maybe even could learn how to ski. A personal physical therapist could he hired on arrival to make sure he got the right treatment, Switzerland was beautiful this time of year and full of people who minded their own business. It had sounded perfect even if he didn’t want to learn how to ski- all for one small problem that was currently sitting in the leather seat one row in front of him.  
   

Bramble Kalani; five years old, both parents deceased was currently in the care of the States. She had been living with her grandmother up until a year ago when she’d been put into the foster care system because her grandmother had been admitted to a nursing home, unable to care for herself let alone a small child. Mickey didn’t know any happy stories of foster care homes. Ben somehow managed to coerce the CPS lady who had come to the hospital to check up on Bramble to give him a copy of her file. Bramble’s file was thin like her physical form, she had been given to the care of a seemingly nice couple and lost within the system. The nice couple had moved States without notifying anyone taking Bramble far from her only living relative. Nice hadn’t been so nice, Mickey had read the hospital reports. Bramble had been found begging for food at a bakery, a customer had been concerned by Bramble’s appearance and followed her home. Once it was clear that Bramble’s home was just around the corner from the Bakery in the back alley made of plastic and newspaper, the good samaritan had bundled Bramble up and taken her to the hospital. Bramble suffered from undernourishment, dehydration and cigarette burns on the soles of her feet. They’d questioned her on why she was living on the streets, all she had told them was that she wanted to go home to her tutu. It took a few days until a passerby at the hospital translated the word tutu as ‘grandmother’.  
 

 He’d broken a lot of laws in his life but this new one of child kidnapping was a first and worrying-some even for the likes of him. When English had told him he’d manage to locate Bramble he’d been relieved. Then he’d wheeled himself to Paediatric’s in the left wing of the hospital and found the Bramble who’d woken him up days ago didn’t remember him. She’d recognised him, said his name as she pointed to the television which hung up high from the side wall where it ran an old episode of The Milkovich’s. That night he’d reacquainted himself to the small girl who looked more sickly than he remembered. Brambles feet where bandaged unlike when she’d woken him up, she had bruising on her arms that looked like hand prints and her eyes were so big it looked like it took up most of her face. The doctor had explained with rest, proper food and patience she would recover well enough. Children were resistant creatures.  
   

So instead of Switzerland, they stuck to the States. No one questioned Mickey when he told them that Bramble was going to come with them, everyone seemed to agree with the idea once they met her. Ben who had been charming to the CPS lady, revealed he’d been feeling sick knowing people could hand over confidential information to strangers just because of a smile and empty compliments. Mickey didn’t have to worry about Yev, he took Bramble under his wing giving her protein bars every five minutes and showing her how to use his iPad. He was surprised when Svetlana let him take Yev with him, it seemed she was softening up. She’d even told him she would stay back and help the Milkovich’s out, adding, “They needed all the help they could get”.

XXX

   Mickey tilted his head so he could see what the kids where doing. The private jet held eight passenger’s while the aircraft could carry at least 20 which meant everyone was spread out. Molly was seated next to Bramble, she was reading to her a child’s book in Russian. Yev was in the opposite seat to the girls. He couldn’t see his son except for the feet that hung out into the aisle and guessed that Yev had fallen asleep judging by the soft snoring that came from the front of the plane.

   He took a moment to wonder about Bramble, he’d been thinking about it the last few days. She didn’t remember coming to his room and talking to him about taking her to see her grandmother or telling him her name was Bramble, like Gamble with a B. He was starting to think it never happened and maybe he’d dreamt it all up, or if he was religious- which he wasn’t, that it was somehow fate.

   Mickey shook off that bizarre thought and leaned into his chair, he straighten both his legs out and left them parallel to the floor until they shook with pain. Holding it there just a little longer Mickey let his feet drop. He turned his head to the window where it was pitch black outside. Miles and Emilia where watching a movie on the jet’s screen, he could hear their bickering brought on by Miles need to provide unnecessary commentary about the extreme use of CGI in the movie. Every so often he could hear Emilia hiss ‘”Shut up”, and an “ouch,” from Miles.

   Ben was pretending to read novel while English did nothing but watch Ben, he left them to it.

Mickey closed his eyes and went through the plan his siblings tried to explain to him once he woke from the coma. It started off simple enough when Iggy started, only to go south real quick. Colin had wheeled a whiteboard in next, the nurse’s weekly roster was rubbed off and replaced with a diagram consisting random words strung together with arrows and hash symbols. He’d asked if Colin was planning a pyramid scheme because it looked an awful lot like one. Whatever Colin was selling, he wasn’t buying. When he’d looked at Jamie for help he found his youngest brother scratching at his nicotine patches and mumbling to himself as he paced the room like he had a nervous tick.The real kicker was Mandy, she claimed she wasn’t in on the plan to bankrupt them out of their hard earned money and was pissed when she’d found out. She listed her grievances; Iggy sold of her clothing line to a department chain, the apartment in the French quarters she to use own was now for sale, her sports car had been reprocessed and if that wasn’t bad enough, when she tried to pay for a box of tampons and some cinnamon donuts her card declined. With no clarity he decided to leave them to their plan, worse case scenario they all would have to move in with English, learn how to talk posh and drink out of fine China.

   It took all his willpower to put Ian Gallagher out of his mind during the day but always, just before he fell asleep, Mickey’s thoughts drifted to Ian Gallagher. Despite his claims on not being religious he prayed to God that Ian was doing okay.

XXX

   Iggy planned the diversion of Mickeys escape from hospital down to the millisecond. As the car drove out of the hospitals’ undercover car park the Milkovich’s were announcing their bankruptcy in the Park across the road. Jamie in the midst of withdrawals had still managed to place speakers and projection screens around the park with the help of Svetlana and their cousins. As the wheels lifted off the ground taking Mickey away from New Orleans, Colin was replaying a certain audio between Iggy and James Peyton to the crowd about a certain bet they’d made. Being a showman that Colin was, he theatrically pulled out his phone with the T.V cameras of every station in the country on him and dialled James Paxton’s home phone number, live. With his phone on speaker and a microphone in front of him Colin winked into the camera as James picked up the call.

“Yo James, it’s Colin. You remember me?” Colin asked.

  
“What do you want, and what’s that noise?” James said on the other end of the line which echoed through the speakers around the park.

Colin ignored the questions, he pointed to Jamie who was on his laptop siting on another milk crate. On queue the projection screen faded to black and seconds later in bright green bold font with the figure: $7,917,466,894.77 flashed on the screens. “So James, word’s out that you’re gonna match us Milkovich’s dollar for dollar”. When he was met with silence Colin shrugged at the crowned who made a loud ‘boo’ sound that could be heard all the way into the next suburb over. Colin held up his index figure quieting the crown down, “Are you reneging Jamie boy?”

Suspicion could be heard in James voice, “Do you have me on speaker phone?”

The crowd in the park laughed and Colin replied, “Sure do”

“What, you think I don’t know your ploy? You called me to tell me you scrounged up a few thousand dollars and expect me to be scared? Yes I made that bet with your stupid brother! Do you fucking know who I am? How much I own? I own all of you!”. 

By the end James was yelling through the phone and the crowd in the park was so quiet he was sure he could hear Jamie scratching at his nicotine patch from the other side of the park.

Colin sighed theatrically, “Shark that you are, why don’t you turn on your T.V. Maybe channel …” he looked around at all the different T.V networks that were lined up with all their camera’s pointed on him, “Heck, any channel will do. You could turn on that channel that does Turkish news and it’d still be the right one”. When Colin heard the intake of breath on the line he gave the thumbs up to the crowd. “I’m not sure what channel you’re on but numbers are pretty universal right? In case they’re not I’m gonna get my peeps to translate for you”.

Colin lifted the phone into the air and the crown yelled out the figure into the night air all ecstatic that they were in on the conversation, “Seven billion, nine hundred and seventeen million, four hundred and sixty six thousand, eight hundred and ninety four fucking dollars and seventy seven cents!”

He thanked them silently by clasping both hands together and giving them a small bow. “You hear that, I know you’re a billionaire and all but that’s gotta hurt, right? You got that kind of cash flow on you? We got all that cash together in two days, so you’ve got two days to match it you fucker. I’m gonna send you the receipts so you know which charities to donate to, you don’t get to choose your own phoney-ass charities”.

Colin passed the phone to Iggy once he was done.

Iggy had been waiting patiently, took the phone off speaker and turned his back to the crowd. Mandy stepped in beside him and Colin on his other side, both of them blocking out all the camera angles as Iggy had the last word, “This is just the beginning fuckface”.


	9. Did you hear about the angry pancake?

You have new voicemail

 _ **Thursday, November 17th 04:56am**_  
Hey. Iggy said I could leave a voicemail at this number and you’d get them…  
To be honest, I don’t even believe him but what do I have to lose, right? I mean your old number’s disconnected and it’s not like you left me a number to call. Mandy promises she doesn’t know where you are too, but I’m finding it hard to believe. I’m finding everything hard to believe right now. Like come the fuck on Mickey, where the fucking hell are you?

 

 ** _Thursday, November 17th 12:23pm_**  
Anyway I thought I’d call back at a more decent hour. I guess it would be asking too much for you to actually pick up the phone. Lip and Carl left today, told ‘em I’d be fine. I think they were kind of glad to go because I’ve been such piece of shit to be around.

 

 _ **Friday, November 18th 07:45pm**_  
Maybe Iggy and Mandy have been leaving you messages too, or maybe they get to speak to you and it’s just me you don’t want to hear from. But yeah, I was thinking maybe you’d like to know what’s been happening around here…  
Things are really fucked Mickey. I’ve got $23 dollars in my wallet at that’s it, I can’t access my bank account and Iggy tells me it’s because all our assets are frozen. Even the account you set up for me with a shit tonne of money I made from modelling is gone. Oh, and since Carl and Lip left guess where I’m living, you remember they abandoned seven story car park four blocks from the Jesus Christ-sis centre? The one you said looked like it would fall over if someone just so much as sneeze on it? Yeah, that one. Your whole family is living in an unstable concrete slab and because, shit Mickey, because they’re the only thing I have left of you I’m living there too. Even Svet’s here, she’s living on level two with Mandy and five others. I’m on level four with the Goth twins, Jamie and a few of your cousins. Do you know how cold concrete is? And the fucking draft Mickey, I feel like we’re sleeping in the morgue. And what’s with James Paxton, did you see what your brothers did live on air, they threw away seven billion dollars. And another thing I’ve deduced, if Svet’s here then it must mean you’ve got Yevgeny right? At least I know you’re alive because you’d be looking after- BEEEEEP

 

 ** _Friday, November 18th 07:49pm  
_** Fuck, there must be cap on the length of voicemail I can leave. I gotta go now anyway, Mandy’s giving me the stink eye. We gotta walk those four blocks to the Christ-sis centre for our dinner. Yeah, yeah, buying that Christ-sis centre was a good idea Mickey, if not we’d be starving.

 

 ** _Sunday, November 20th 10:34am_**  
I think your brothers are up to something, I caught them all hovered around the fire drum looking suspicious, not that they don’t always look suspicious but more so that usual this time. Oh, you know how I told you I'm bunking with the Goth twins? Well I found out their names are Laura and Ignazio. I bet you didn’t even know their names because you use to always refer to them as ‘doom and gloom’. Anyway, they had to give their clothes away to charity so the last few days they’ve been walking around in just average clothes, like sweats and jumpers that have colour and shit. Well Ignazio was crying in the middle of the night, we all heard him sniffling into his pillow. I guess the strain of not being able to wear black really got to him. I didn’t go over and comfort him because he’s like what, 19 now? I’m going to see if I can find them both something black to wear today at the Christ-sis centre. People are always dropping off clothing now that they know all the Milkovich’s are poor. Oh, another thing, these Gallavich and Milkovich fans, they’re the fucking best. A couple people dropped off a basket filled with all kinds of muffins. We all fell into them like we’d never had food before. Best stans ever, Mickey.

 

 ** _Monday, November 21st_** **_4:01pm_**  
Colin woke me up at the crack of dawn this morning. Made me go for a jog with him. We did around 40 blocks and ended up in some rich area. The next thing I knew he was breaking into one of the houses, well, he didn’t really break in because he knew all the security codes. But still, this was not the Milkovich house Mickey. Anyway, I followed him in and all he did was go to the fridge and empty it of its contents. We hauled 3 bags of food home. Mandy fried us all some eggs on a portable gas burner and we had it with rice crisps and toast. And talking about Mandy, do you think I should be worried about the whole Andrew Pike thing? She seems okay, but you never know with females. Don’t they always say one thing and mean another?

 

 ** _Monday, November 21st 9:12pm_**  
I found a phone today, it’s an old crappy thing but it works. Now I don’t have to call you from a pay phone anymore. If you want, you can call me some time, the number is 444-349-9000. I guess whoever lost it has been calling it non stop, I’d return it but I kind of need it more yeah? Maybe once I’m back on my feet I could buy them a new phone. Colin tells me it’s a iPhone 4s, that’s what, 8 years old now? Fuck Mickey, I feel like I’m carrying a brick.

 

 ** _Wednesday, November 23rd 11:09am_**  
We all hung out at the Christ-sis centre yesterday. I taught a first-aid course to all of the Milkovich’s and everyone who was there. Iggy did a stand up comedy act that wasn’t funny, all he did was make his armpit fart for 15 minutes. A couple of your cousins broke open the Bingo game set and we played that for the rest of the day. I think it was a hit, maybe we’ll have Bingo night at the Christ-sis centre once a week.  
And Mickey? I didn’t call yesterday because I’ve been kind of depressed. Sometimes I wonder if you left me behind on purpose. If maybe you thought what happened was my fault? I wouldn’t blame you if you did, just…I wish I could take it all back. You’re enough for me Mickey, anything you can give me is enough. Just come home.

 

 ** _Tuesday, November 29th 5:33pm_**  
Did you hear about the angry pancake?

 

 ** _Tuesday, November 29th 5:35pm_**  
He just flipped!

 

 ** _Tuesday, November 29th 5:45pm_**  
Did you like the joke? I thought it was funny. Did you notice I’d not left a voicemail in a whole week? Well, the clinic changed my med dosage again so it’s been a tough week for me. Svetlana’s been mothering me which is kind of screwy considering she’s your ex-wife. I also caught Mandy and Iggy talking about James Paxton, I’m gonna keep an eye out.

 

 ** _Wednesday, November 30th 4:55pm_**  
Jamie and Colin says Wednesday is games night. They’ve made level one into a basketball court complete with hoops stolen from the local high school. I think they stole chalk from the classroom too because the lines are all drawn in red chalk, looks kinda cool if not for the body outline someone drew in the centre.

 

 _ **Wednesday, November 30th 11:25pm**_  
Iggy’s an ass, Mickey! Your moron bother elbowed me in the face and took the ball right out of my hands and now I’ve got a black eye. Seriously, I was on his fucking team!

 

 ** _Friday, December 2nd 4:22am_**  
I forgot to tell you but I broke into our swamp house on the first day back in New Orleans and took Peggy Sue with me. I am happy to report that she’s loving the car park life. And guess what? It finally clicked who’s house Colin broke into the other week, it was James Paxton’s. I jogged by there the other day, he’s got guards at the front now. I didn’t stop but I think one of them was Riffraff, the guy that came to Chicago with me, I’m guessing they’re Ben’s mates by the way they talk. Isn’t it strange that they would work for James now?

 

 ** _Friday, December 2nd 6:56am_**  
*Muffled sounds* Jerking off sounds*  
Fuck Mickey. Miss you so fucking much  
Ahh fuuuuuck

 

 ** _Friday, December 2nd 12:09pm_**  
Mickey, I’m at the Milk station and you’re my one phone call. They gave me code 29. Svetlana’s in the cell next to me giving me daggers. Someone called the cops on us for noise disturbance. I don’t even how that can be when we don’t have neighbours on either side of the car park! I bet it was Colin trying to get Svetlana and me to stop arguing. All I wanted was for Svetlana to tell me where you are. I’ve been thinking about it, you’ve got Yev and shit, it’s not possible she doesn’t know where Yev is which means she knows where you are! That bitch is giving me the stink eye again, I think she’s mumbling about how my head’s up my ass or something…Hey, my one call is up. Laters.

 

 ** _Saturday, December 3rd 8:00am_**  
They gave me back the phone and my wallet. Mrs Chen and Iggy came to bailed us out. I’m gonna have a shower at the Christ-sis centre then go to bed for month. Did I tell you that I got a photoshoot this Thursday? It should bring in a bit of cash, I wanna buy Mandy and the twins a blow up bed just so it’s not too cold for them at night, ‘cause it’s off the ground and all.

 

 ** _Sunday, December 4th 4:07pm_**  
Either Svetlana is not talking to me or I’m not talking to her, I’m not sure which is what. Anyway, I followed Colin and Iggy this morning when they left the car park. They went through all the shops along the main streets of the city, didn’t stay very long either. When they left the Indian takeaway I went in after and asked the guy at the counter what Iggy had wanted. The Indian guy just shrugged and said ‘money’. Shit Mickey, I think Iggy and Colin are bullying all the storekeepers for money. Kind of like they’re paying Iggy and Colin for protection against bullies, but they’re the bullies too. I know we’ve fallen on hard times but I didn’t think they’d be going back to their Southside ways. I’m going to speak to them, if you don’t heard from me again it’s because they’ve buried me somewhere in the swamp.

 

 ** _Monday, December 5th 11:16am_**  
So I spoke to Jamie instead. He explained everything, or so he says. Apparently you guys are all silent partners in most of the businesses in New Orleans and since all the accounts where frozen Colin and Iggy needed it all to be cash in hand. Jamie showed me the contracts, he even took me to some of the shops who second what Jamie claimed. Do you guys seriously own half of New Orleans Mickey? I always thought you were an arms dealer.

 

 ** _Tuesday, December 6th 05:00pm_**  
Guess what’s on tomorrow. It’s games night, and guess what’s the game of choice. It’s laser tag without the lasers. Instead we got tasers. I don’t know where your cousins found them but we got a duffle bag full of them, there’s 30 all up. I’m making it my mission to get Iggy back for the black eye last week. Something else, we got electricity. We got Christmas lights hanging all around the car park now, it’s like a disco in here. I think by the time nights over we’re all going to have a seizure from all this flickering.

 

 **Wednesday, December 7th**   _ **09:56am**_  
Mickey, it’s not what you think. If you somehow see that photo I want you to know I didn’t make any kind of move on that guy, even if the picture looks like it. I was sitting there at the bar drinking a lemonade while Mandy and Jamie where playing pool when a guy comes up and just says ‘hi’. He tells me he’s had a crush on you for a long time, and shit Mickey, I said ‘me too’ and we both laughed. I feel like I haven’t laughed in a long time, and when I do, it’s still because of you. When are you coming home, Mickey? I also canceled the photoshoot that was suppose to happen tomorrow, to be honest it was in L.A and what if I’m in L.A and you come home and I miss you? Besides, the bruise is fading but still there.

 

 ** _Thursday, December 8th 01:05am_**  
Sooooo, I tasered Iggy in the nuts. He went down and stayed there for a whole hour. Was fucking awesome. And guess what else Mickey, you know what else I remembered as I shot those volts into your dickhead brother? I remembered I gave you a watch, and you’ve never taken it off, have you?


	10. I don’t know where to start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a while, but i have next chapter ready to post tomorrow- thats gotta count right?

   Once he was positive on Mickeys Location, it took Ian a little over three weeks to scrape up enough cash for the airfare. The likes of TMZ, Vanity fair and The Hollywood reporter all offered to pay him double what they offered to Brad and Angie for their newborn baby photos if he agreed on an exclusive interview. Ian didn’t take the easy way out though, he opted to make money the old fashion way, by stealing stuff that wasn’t nailed down. With the help of Colin they revisited James Paxton’s mansion on multiple occasions when the owner wasn’t home and helped themselves to items they thought were valuable. A Craig’s list account was created to sell an assortment of items; tasteless but expensive paintings, a large crystal chandelier that once hung up in the foyer on one billionaires mansion, an ivory cigar box trimmed with gold and a Ferrari Red Paul Newman Rolex watch.

   With the sale of all items they made $230,000 in cash, Ian took $1000 for himself and handed the rest to Colin, needing only enough for a one way ticket to Honolulu. He settled on purchasing a flight with Delta Airlines after being frustrated that there were no direct flights out of New Orleans. During those three weeks Ian let his hair and beard grow to the point where he was unrecognisable from all the scruff. In a handful of occasions he was stopped inside the airport lounge while waiting for his flight, random people asked for a photo with him, stopping to tell him how cool they thought he was. Even though he hoped they didn’t recognised him, which was precisely what happened, it was still stranger when they called him ‘Prince Harry’ or mistook him for some NFL player he didn’t even know named Andy Dalton.  
   The first leg of the flight went quickly and before Ian new it, he was at LAX with a layover of almost two hours. Ian positioned him in a chair facing a wall in the corner of the airport, he used the time to think about what he would say and do when Mickey was once again within arms reach. He pictured himself calmly telling Mickey that he missed him, apologising for not being there when he woke up, and then finally, he would wrap Mickey in his arms and everything would be fine.

   What Ian wanted to happen changed many times during the six hour fight to Daniel K Inoue international airport as he mulled over the past few months. By the time he was in a cab headed towards a beautiful house positioned at the southern most tip of Diamond head, Ian envisioned a completely different reunion from the one he initially thought he wanted. This last one was of him yelling at Mickey for leaving him behind, giving him an uppercut for the stunt he pulled- instead of taking a chance of running from the goons Mickey had made that decision to face it head on. Then finally, finally Ian would ask Mickey if he even loved him, because none of those actions by Mickey felt like love.

   Of course, by the time he paid the cab driver (short $5 and without tip) and walked up the drive way of the three story mansion, all his plans, visions and idea’s went out the window as reality took over. Uncertainty gnawed at him, what if the GPS tracking English had provided him at his insistence long ago didn’t work? That the tracking device in the watch which he’d strapped personally to Mickey’s wrist was only a watch. Ian had remembered the GPS in Mickey's watch as Iggy bent over cradling his balls from the tasering for no reason at all. He’d not apologised for the taser incident, but excused himself from the remainder of the game. He'd left soon after that to break into the home he had shared once with Mickey. The first time he broke in after returning from Chicago was to pick up their rabbit Peggy Sue, Ian didn’t stay long that first time, keeping his eyes from wandering, unable to bare looking around at the empty house once filled with furniture and that one person he loved above all else. The second time was different, he still didn’t look around, but headed straight to the safe room. Everything there in the room was the same; filled to the brim with canned food, ammunition, a bed and most importantly his laptop. He waited impatiently for the device to boot up, got frustrated when he got no wifi connection, took another 10 minutes fiddling with the Hotspot on his stolen phone and then, when he was ready to throw the laptop into the swamp, a small red dot blinked at him on the GPS tracking program- giving away Mickey’s location.

   Ian stood at the large white door, he eyed the buzzer for a long minute as he thought about Mickey being on the other side. He drew in a breath and pressed the gold buzzer, Ian didn't have to wait long for the door to swing open. A small boy straddling a tricycle opened the front door wearing a riot control gas mask which covered his entire face. Ian swallowed and took one step backward. “I’m sorry”, he murmured when the boy sat back down on the bike seat and peddled closer to him. He couldn’t tell how old the boy was because the mask covered his whole face, the screen giving only a reflection of himself like a mirror. The bike continued to push forward making him take a few more steps back, Ian hefted the backpack that was sliding off his shoulder back into place and wondered why anyone would be wearing a gas mask in the warm weather.

When the front bike wheel touched his boot, the boy’s mask covered face turned to the left then right. “Did the zombies bite you?” A muffled voice behind the mask asked.

Ian leaned down unable to make out all the words. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I repeat: are you con-conmand-inated?”

   Ian shook his head, “No, ah, sorry, negative”. He felt more unbalanced than a few minutes ago, realising that the boy was asking if he was contaminated. Was there an outbreak of bird or swine flu he didn’t know about, maybe mad cow disease? Without another word the small boy slid the mask from his face siting it on the top of his head to reveal to Ian that the boy was not a boy, but a small girl around four years of age.

   Eyes the colour of golden honey blinked at him and once again he found himself apologising. “I’m sorry”. Ian was now sure he was at the wrong house, she looked like his cab driver earlier, Native Hawaiian and he knew he shouldn’t be standing at a door with a small girl talking about contamination. He watched as the girl rolled the bike backwards seeming to come to the conclusion that she shouldn’t be talking to strangers as well. Now that he wasn’t so up close to her Ian took in her bare feet and outfit. She had on just a shirt, but on her it looked like a dress because it was of adult size. Her arms were scrawny, visible because the flannel shirt sleeves had been cut off. In the front pocket of the shirt was a Barbie doll, or what he suspected was a barbie doll because it was placed head first into the pocket, with only the dolls legs visible.

   Ian exhaled the breath he didn’t know he was holding since he recognised the old flannel shirt belonging to Mickey. He took a step forward, then another, until he was at the doorway entrance, the girl continuing to push her feet so she rolled backwards further into the house. Ian stepped over the threshold, the smell of something like Pizza hit him. He closed the door behind him, made his legs move forward following the girl who was still rolling backwards with her mask back in place. The entrance opened up to a large living area where he instantly saw some of the occupants in the house. From where he stood he saw Ben on a white leather lounge asleep in front of the T.V, mouth slightly ajar. A Zombie ran across the flickering T.V screen catching his attention in what Ian knew was the movie 28 days later. Next he saw Yev and Molly, both of them asleep on a mattress directly under the 80inch T.V. Ian turned his head when a scraping sound drew his attention, the small girl was pulling out a chair at the dining table, she clambered up on the chair, then onto the table where she pushed away an ornamental trio of candles and  settled herself in the middle of the table.

   English stepped in from the outside, he slid open the glass sliding doors behind where the girl sat. He’d just come back from a swim, still in swim trunks and a towel draped around his neck. English didn’t look surprised to see Ian, instead he addressed the girl who was now laying flat on the table, her top body dangling over the edge with one arm out holding onto one of the tricycle handle bars. “Bramble, what are you doing?”

   “Bike”, the girl stated, whilst still trying to haul the object up on to the table.

   Ian watched on as English stepped around the table, picked the bike up and placed it on the table as instructed. The girl clambered on the tricycle now situated on the middle of the table, she rode the bike an inch from the edge before stopping, then rolled backwards. English put on a shirt that was draped over the back of a dining chair before acknowledging him. Ian thought about English, the luxurious house he was currently standing in with its ocean views he could see from where he stood and then did what he’d always wanted to do. He rushed forward and took a swing at Nikolas Mikkelsen, Ian’s fist connected with the side of English’s face causing it to snap around from the blow. Ian drew his fist back once again, still not satisfied, but before he could connect his fist a second time he was hauled backwards. A strong hand wrapped around his bicep and flung him backwards, Ian went sprawling across the tiled floor, only stopping when he hit a wall. Dazed by the force that had pulled him from his spot, Ian let himself slide down the wall until he sat up against it, knees drawn up.

   It seemed Ben was awake just in time to come to his lovers rescue. Ben murmured something to English that Ian couldn’t understand, he already knew they spoke in Danish when they didn’t want anyone to know what they were saying. Their actions spoke volumes though, Ben pushed away English’s hand that was touching his bottom lip, now cut and bleeding. He cupped a hand over English’s face and wiped the thumb over the cut, red stained the thumb which Ben brought to his lip and sucked into his mouth.  
Once Ben was done making sure no real damage was caused to his golden god he turned to Ian Gallagher. “You got your one hit, don’t touch him again”, there was no heat or anger in the words but nevertheless Ian knew he was being warned.

   Ian pushed himself back against the wall, using it as leverage to get up. When he stood he pointed an accusing finger at English but spoke to Ben, “Tell me it isn’t his fault Mickey and I aren’t in New Orleans right now. Tell me it isn’t his fault Mickey woke up without me by his side” Ian’s voice broke and he had to stop to take in a shuddering breath.

   Both Ben and Ian were less than impressed when Nikolas Mikkelsen decided that the best response to Ian’s heartfelt demand was a careless shrug.

   Ian clenced his fist turning his glare at Ben, “He fucking meddles in everything, I’m fucking sick of it”.

   Ben nodded. He’d been frustrated by Nikolas on more occasion than he cared to keep count of. The worst thing was, he felt for Ian, he could understand Ian’s anger. Ben had questioned Nik’s reasoning for organising their departure from New Orleans when Mickey was barely recovered, didn’t understand why they couldn’t go by Chicago and pick up Ian first, he just didn’t see the logic on excluding Ian when they all knew it would all end in blows- just like it had.

   They were all interrupted with the sounds of footsteps pounding down the stairs, Mickey was heard before seen, “When’s the fuckin’ lasagne ready? Is Ben still asleep, he better not burn lunch again”.

   Ian turned towards the sound of Mickeys voice, he took in his boyfriend. Mickey looked tanner than the last time they were together, his black hair was cut short on the sides and kept long on top, the silky strands made Ian itch to push it back. Mickey wore a white wife beater and black running shorts, his feet were bare except for the weights circling his ankles. Mickey looked fitter than ever, he’d put on muscle but retained the body fat that Ian had always thought was so sexy. Beefy, Ian thought, Mickey looked so goddamn beefy. It wasn’t until Mickey took a few steps towards him did he see the limp in his walk. Ian narrowed his eyes looking past Mickeys perfection and tried to look for the things that Mickey didn’t have before their ‘accident’ but couldn’t see anything that was visible. He needed to be alone with Mickey, undress him and check him over from head to toe to assuage his fears. Instead, he turned away from Mickey and went to the dining table and sat himself down on one of the chairs. Ian didn’t let the girl riding up and down the length of the table distract him from acknowledging that of all the scenarios he thought of since he’d started planning the trip, none of them involved him having nothing to say to Mickey.Ian sat there through a few minutes of silence as they all looked at him uneasily. Although he was genuinely pleased to see Molly and Yev after they woke up from a mid-day nap he couldn’t muster up the enthusiasm they both had as they chatted non stop to him about everything he’d missed from their lives in the past couple of months. He sat through plates, cups and lasagne being set before him, even recalled taking a few bites of food before excusing himself from the table to go in search of a bedroom where he could lie down and hopefully he would wake up from this strange dream he was having so he could go in search of the real Mickey.

 XXX

   It wasn’t any one thing that set the alarm bells off in Mickey’s head telling him something was off with Ian. If he was tortured by one of Ben’s brain hungry zombie movie characters for days he might have admitted to turning a blind eye on all the signs. It was easy to make up excuses for the awkward reunion when he’d ached for Ian ever since he woke up from the coma. So when even after a week of waking up in bed next to Ian but having him consistently pull when he tried to instigate some kind of physical contact, Mickey decided to leave it be, chalking it down to Ian needing some time to get over his anger at being abandoned in Chicago.

   Mickey might have conceded he didn’t know how to broach the subject of Ian’s behaviour, constantly avoiding it. It was lucky then, that Mickey Milkovich wasn’t the only one who lacked tact.

   “What’s that smell?”, Ben asked sniffing the air as he dipped the teabag in his mug. Everyone in the room turned to him, their eyes wide with horror. “What?” He asked muddled by the expressions they bestowed upon him.

   Nikolas who just seconds ago put the Sunday paper down, picked it back up, unfolded it gracefully to shield him from the conversation to come. Mickey broke eye contact with Ben, busying himself by cutting up Brambles’ toast into quarters. He buttered the tiny squares then took his time spreading apricot jam on top. Since Ians arrival he couldn’t recall a time when Ian had showered. Molly and Yev were old enough to be aware of the social graces required when it came to Ian’s current state. They too ignored Ben by suddenly finding the back of a cereal box a real interesting read.

   “Excuse me”, Ian murmured.

   They waited, pretending to be preoccupied as Ian pushed his chair back from the table and made his way up the stairs leading to the bedrooms. Only once Ian was out of sight did Nikolas put down the newspaper. He leaned over and gave a flick to Ben’s earlobe, “You can really be a child some times”.

   “What?” Ben asked again.

   Bramble licked the jelly off the top of her toast, smearing it on her chin in the process. “We can’t talk about the smell”. She turned to Mickey, “Are we going to see Granny today?”

   Mickey leaned back in his chair coffee cup in hands, “Yeah, and if you’re good she might come stay with us a bit, but you got to promise to stop jumping off shit before you break your neck”. Mickey eyed Bramble skeptically, “And you gotta eat your toast, not just lick at the jam”.

   “Why can’t we talk about the smell?” Ben asked interrupting the conversation.

   Molly pushed the cereal box that was keeping her and Yev free from being drawn into the unusual conversation . It seemed she could no longer keep her peace with her dad’s obtuseness. “Dad, it’s I-A-N”, she spelt out.

   For the longest time the only sound they heard was Bramble humming as she ate her breakfast and that of the waves outside where the ocean crashed up against the distant shore. The silence was broken by Bramble who handed Mickey a spoon, “More”, she demanded. Mickey relented and opened the jar of apricot jam, he scooped a spoon full of jelly and handed it to her.

   The light dawned in Ben’s eyes. He slapped a hand on the table causing the the cutlery to clank. Ben leaned forward as if sharing a secret with them all, “No-fucking-way”.

   “Yes, way” Yev replied.

   Before Ben could ask any further questions, Ian came back into view wearing clean grey shorts and a blue T-shirt that belonged to Mickey. If anyone else noticed the droplets of water that still clung to his wet hair or how damp his clean clothes were, they kept silent. Ben, this time around, kept his mouth shut despite wanting to ask Ian how it could take the man less than five minutes to shower and why didn’t he bother to dry himself off.

   Mickey turned to Yev, “What are you guys doing today?”. After the first week of keeping them at home English eventually let them venture into town by themselves. Every morning the kids would pack a bag each and take a bus to god knows where, all he knew was when they returned in the evening they came home with a tonne of sand in their clothes and hair.

   Yev wiped his mouth with the back of his hand after finishing his glass of milk, “We’ll go with Bramble to pick up Granny and get her settled in the spare room”. Molly handed Yev a piece of paper which he opened, everyone around the table was now use to the two of them and their lists of daily activities. Yev continued scanning the page, “You can drop us off at the North Shore around 2ish”. He turned to Bramble, “Brambs, you can stay with granny if you like but it would be nice if you came along. We might need a third pair of hands”

   All the adults at the table honed in, except for Ian who was oblivious to the conversation around him. “Hands?” They all asked in unison.

   Molly leant forward the way her dad did earlier. “It’s a surfing competition. I’m going to get Kelly Slater’s autograph today and he’s going to teach us how to surf if the waves aren’t any good for comp”

   Mickey was intrigued with the notion of the kids becoming wax heads. Ben wanted to ask if he could come along. Nikolas was the only one who hadn’t been fooled by Molly’s attempt to distract. “Hands?”

   Molly pouted mirroring Nikolas’s sullen expression when he was caught doing something he ought not to. “I think Aunt Mandy needs a surfboard for Christmas”

   “Huh?” Ben asked.

   Yev tried to explain, “Aunt Mandy has had a crush on Kelly since she was a teenager and did you know Kelly is an 11th time world champion?”.

   Mickey scratched his head mulling this over, he understood what Yev and Molly was implying even if Ben didn’t. He just wasn’t aware Mandy liked both sexes. “Fine, do what you want but if you get caught and this Kelly chick presses charges, make sure you give her a fake name. If they haul you down to the cop shop make sure you give them…” Mickey turned his head inspecting the adults at the table, he bypassed Ian immediately, stopped by English who was pretending to read the paper again, then to Ben who was on his fourth plate of breakfast. He couldn’t find one responsible adult at the table. “When is Emilia and Miles back?”, he asked instead.

   Ben answered, mouth full. “Sunday, it’s a seven day tour. I think they’re going to see the active volcano today”.

   “Fine”, Mickey said turning back to Yev and Molly. “but you get in any trouble have the cops call Ben, alright? I don’t know who you fuckers are”. Casually he turned to Ian, “What plans do you have today?”

   Ian looked down at his hands, “Whatever you’re doing”

XXX

   It took a lot of work to get Mickey to walk by the time Ian had arrived, sweat and tears on all their behalf. The physical therapist Nikolas hired lasted less than a week. The therapist’s name was Thomas Andersson, he had a Swedish heritage who when introduced requested they call him Tommy - this was strike one for Nikolas who abhorred nicknames. Tommy boasted a master and doctor’s degree in physical therapy specialising as a recreational therapist. The expert believed with plenty of rest, deep breathing exercises and an assortment of yoga workouts Mickey could be walking within six months - this was strike two, Nikolas believed Mickey should be walking within a week. Strike three came minutes after Mickey face planted himself on the tiled pavement trying to climb out of the Olympic size pool after a punishing 80 laps. A big argument ensued between Tommy and Nikolas, Tommy voicing his concern that Mickey was being pushed to hard, it was ludicrous to expect 80 laps. English swore at the Swedish therapist in Russian, calling him a pussy and a few other names he wan’t allowed to say in front of the kids. Ben and the children had ignored the bickering to attend to Mickey who did complete the 80 laps, but as a result lost feelings in both legs and swallowed too much pool water. Ben carried Mickey to the closest lawn chair and left him under kids supervision. Ben had told Nikolas to shut up, he followed this by escorting Tommy out of the house and waived him off, letting the man know his services where no longer required.  
   Ben and English had been soldiers, it didn’t matter that Mickey had suffered severe injuries- that was a part of life. What did medical experts know about the limits of the human body when they sat behind a desk with telescopes and dusty books? How was Mickey going to recover if he didn’t push himself to the point of exhaustion every day, until he puked his guts out or fainted from depletion. In this Ben and English were of the same understanding, no pain, no gain.  
   After the therapist left English and Ben decided another therapist was required. They would take charge of Mickeys recovery by upping the intensity of the workouts- much to Emilia’s dismay. She argued with them constantly but always remained after the heated conversation to keep an eye out on Mickey, when he threw up she was there with a bucket or when he tripped over his feet she almost always caught him before he hit the floor.

   On his first check up at the hospital Mickey was able to walk in with the aid of a hiking stick. Brambles grandma had offered that he borrow her walking frame when he’d first met her in a wheel chair. The look of horror on his face had been priceless, there would be no way he’d be caught dead hobbling around with that thing. Emilia, that same day had gone out and bought him a hiking stick, one that looked kind of cool. He’d thanked her and tested it out and begrudgingly he used it around the house. Mickeys recovery was faster than the doctors thought possible, but with Nikolas’s revulsion to any signs of weakness, Ben’s ability to cajole another squat, mile or push from him, coupled with his own determination, there wasn’t any doubt he would regain full function of his legs.

   The runs with Ben was the worst. Mickey didn’t know what a sadist was until Ben threw his runners at him one morning after breakfast. Emilia joined them on the jogs, she was his constant, always beside him, her face etched with concern every time he’d stumbled or stopped because he was out of breath. Ben lead them around the outskirts of the diamond head crater and by the time they made it back home it was well after dark. A one hour jog for Ben took him over 7 hours to complete.

   Jogging with Ian was a lot different than jogging with Emilia despite both of them constantly looked at him in worry. Ian hid it better though, because he chose to jog behind Mickey and he was only able to see Ian’s expression when he turned backwards which wasn’t often because he still needed to concentrate on making sure his legs co-operated. He looked up when he noticed Ben was slowing down, who usually jogged at least 20 feet ahead then circled back round to make sure he was alright every few minutes. This time Ben slowed down until they were side by side, Ian still behind them a few paces.

   Mickey was breathing out of his mouth, raised an eyebrow at Ben not bothering to waste a breath on asking Ben what was up.

   “When you going to speak to him?” Ben asked

   He couldn’t pretend he didn’t know what Ben was talking about. To prolonged the answer Mickey unscrewed the cap of water carried and took a few swallows of the lukewarm water. “Talk to him about what?”, Mickey sidestepped. There were so many things he wanted to ask Ian, to say to him, he just didn’t know where to fucking start. He wanted to ask how Ian was healing up because once in a while he’d catch the scar on the side of Ian’s head through the red thick hair and realise how close he was to losing him that night in New Orleans. Mickey wanted to understand why Ian thought he needed to watch over him as he slept and only falling asleep himself when he could no longer physically stay awake. Mickey wanted to ask the man that looked like his boyfriend, if in fact he was a replica like that old movie Ben and Bramble watched the other night called Invasion of the body snatchers. And, of all the things, was it shallow that he wanted to know why Ian refused to fuck him at every turn, instead pushing him away with a lame excuse or offering a pity blow job instead.

    Ben hadn’t even broken a sweat after an hour into the jog, even on the steep incline they the were currently on. “At least I got him to shower”

    Mickey managed a grin. So Ben’s question earlier this morning which lead to Ian showering hadn’t been ignorance at all. English was right about Ben, he was a shifty bastard. Mickey risked a quick glance behind him and Ben followed suit, both caught Ian in deep concentration. It wasn’t at anything in particular, he seemed to be looking in all directions. Nothing keeping his interest for too long, scanning, then moving on. It reminded Mickey of a documentary on the Discovery channel about Meerkats. 

   “I don’t know where to start” Mickey admitted to Ben.

XXX 

   The following morning Yev purposely woke up early. Yesterdays plan to steal the surfboard didn’t go according to plan, he needed some time alone to decide the next course of action and wanted to make a phone call to his uncles for advise. When he went downstairs to fill a glass of orange juice he found Bramble already in the Kitchen. She was sitting in the middle island with her feet inside the sink’s tub. He’d never had a sister before, and although it was different from what he felt for Molly, he was protective of her just as much, if not more so because Bramble was younger.

   “Whatcha doing Brambs?” Yev asked. He climbed up on the stool and looked over her hunched shoulder, by now he was use to her late nights and early mornings. Most of the time she watched T.V or fiddled with the iPad he’d given until everyone in the house had risen, today her curiosity was with Ian’s iPhone. He’d downloaded a few apps suitable for a five year old on the iPad so she didn’t have trouble navigating Ian’s phone. It seemed Ian didn’t have a password set because he watched Bramble swipe across the screen, tapping in and out of apps as if the phone belonged to her.

   When she pressed on the Spotify app she looked up at him, “What does this one do?”

Yev didn’t use that app himself so he leant further over her shoulder to have a better look at the screen. “I think it’s for music. Do you like music?” He asked.

Bramble shrugged. She handed him the phone and Yev acquainted himself with the Spotify App. Yev quickly pressed on ‘PLAYLISTS’ and found only one list set on the app. It was labelled ‘Songs’ and he was about to select it when Mollys head came into view peering over the other side of Bramble’s shoulder.

   “Are we having a meeting I forgot about?” Molly asked sleepily.

    Yev shook his head, “We’re listening to music”. He handed the phone back to Bramble, “Here, you gotta tap here”. He pointed his finger to the green ‘shuffle’ icon.

   Bramble nodded, her dainty finger hovering over the green ‘SHUFFLE PLAY’ icon.

   “Are you all making breakfast?” Ben asked, interrupting all three kids from behind them. They all turned to him as he stepped into the kitchen area, English close behind Ben.

   “Why is everyone up so early?” English muttered. “Is there another stupid meeting?”

   Ben rolled his eyes and elbowed English, “Bramble, what did we say about climbing?”

   Bramble repeated word for word what Mickey had said about her climbing on high furniture, “Before you can fucking climb shit, you must wear padding”

   “Then where is your helmet I got you the other day? And we got you elbow and knee pads too” Ben pointed more exasperated than anything.

   Bramble hung her head looking contrite, “I forgot”.

    “What the fuck’s going on here?” Mickey asked interrupting everyone. He swaggered into the kitchen looking at each of them, Molly and Yev where in P.J’s, Bramble was wearing another of his old shirts, Ben and English looked like they just rolled out of bed.

   “We’re about to listen to some music” Bramble explained, her finger still hovering above the shuffle.

   Ben, Nikolas and Mickey went around the island so they could see what Bramble was talking about. They took in Ian’s phone in her hand and Nikolas pointed out the obvious, “He didn’t set a password?”

   Bramble shook her head and hit shuffle. A haunting tune came over the phone speaker along with the first line of the song. Before it went on any further Nikolas leaned in and tapped on the ‘pause’ icon. “I need a drink for this”, Nikolas declared. Fetching 6 glass tumblers from the cabinet and a half full bottle of vodka from the freezer, he went about pouring a generous amount in every glass then pushed one each in their direction.

   “Nik! It’s five AM” Ben admonished.

   Nikolas looked to Mickey who had already picked up his glass and taken a swallow of the cold oily liquid. He turned to the three children, “Right, I forgot you are all under 10. Ben, pass me three more glasses please”. Ben did as told, going to the cupboards to get some cups all the while muttering under his breath, something about Russians being terrible parents. Nikolas took the opportunity drink all three glasses of vodka he had filled for the minors.

   When Ben produced three plastic cups he eyed the empty glasses in the sink suspiciously. “Here” he said handing Nikolas the cups and a carton of milk.

   Nikolas refill Mickey’s glass as Ben took care of providing milk to the kids, satisfied that everyone had a drink in hand Nikolas pressed the triangle button on the phone. Sinead O’connor sang to them about seven hours and fifteen days, fancy restaurants, birds and repeatedly, with a heartfelt voice, she told them, that nothing compared. By the end of the five minutes and eight second song, both Mickey and Ben held out their empty tumbler to Nikolas, silently demanding a refill.

   Yev pressed pause when he song ended. The kitchen was silent except for the hum of the fridge and the sound of the ocean outside.

   “Was that good?” Bramble asked unsure.

   Everyone shook their head in dismay. Mickey didn’t want to listen to the next song on the playlist but the stupid need to know just how fucked this playlist was got the better of him. Taking a gulp of the refill he pressed play on Ian’s phone which was still in Brambles hand. He looked at the song title and band, One headlight by The Wallflowers, not recognising song or band. He also didn’t have a clue what the song was about once it was over, and judging by the looks on everyone else’s face they too were at a lost. Mickey pressed the back button, and they all listed to One Headlight again. When the song ended a second one Mickey looked up, “Anyone know what the fuck that was about?”.

   Ben licked his lips and gave it a shot, “I think the guys a mechanic, and the truck has a broken headlight. Maybe he drove with a broken headlight with his girlfriend in the car, they got in an accident and she died. He probably feels bad because he could have fixed the headlight but he didn’t?”

    “Really Benjamin” Nikolas snickered.

   Mickey turned to Yev and Molly who seemed to always be insightful “How about you two? Any guess has got to be better than what Ben’s just come up with”. Molly shook her head, too young to understand that some songs didn’t always spell out everything in black and white.

   Mickey turned to English, dreading his explanation. “Well?”

   “If I were to guess” Nikolas started eyeing the offending iPhone still on pause “It is about a prostitute that lives out of an abandoned truck and all she wants to do is drink wine and smoke cigarettes”.

   Molly theatrically put her head onto the marble island and groaned at Nikolas’s interpretation of the song, she spoke into the marble bench addressing Ben, “Dad, can you tell Father not to use the word ‘prostitute’ around me, I’m only eight”.

   Yev leaned towards Molly and gave her a companionable pat on the back. “I think it’s about being broken but trying anyways”, he volunteered.

   Mickey thought about his son’s words, he replayed the song one more time. Everyone listened intently trying to ascertain just who had the correct meaning to the song written by Bob Dylan’s son. When the song ended Mickey still wasn’t sure what the lyrics were about, maybe it was a combination of a mechanic, a prostitute, headlight and things just being fucked up. It sounded like the start of an awful joke.

   “Can we play the next one now?” Bramble asked when a full 10 minutes of silence passed.

  Mickey wasn’t sure he could handle a third song, he tipped the remaining liquid down his throat and nodded to Bramble. As soon as she pressed play, the screen showed title and singer, Mickey breathed out a sigh of relief. He knew who Bruno Mars was, even knew the guy sang a few upbeat songs. After the first line, he wanted to snatch the near empty bottle of vodka from English’s hand, first to empty it of the remaining liquor then to smash it over his own head. Bruno Mars’s ‘it will rain’ sang about heartbreak and more heartbreak.

   “Hey, what are you guys doing?” Ian asked from the base of the stairs. He’d come down in just a pair of shorts, shirt still in his hand and a really bad case of bed hair.

   Mickey hit pause, took the phone out of Brambles hands and slid it into her shirt pocket. “Nothing, just having a drink. You want one?”


	11. Ian’s Spotify playlist

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not really a chapter

Ian’s Spotify playlist (Before Bramble and Co.)

Playlist: Songs

Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O’ Connor - I do not Want What I Haven’t Got - 4:38  
One Headlight – The Wallflowers – Bringing Down The Horse - 4:13  
It Will Rain – Bruno Mars – It Will Rain – 4:18  
Already Gone – Sleeping At Last – Already Gone – 4:01  
Heaven – Beyoncé – BEYONCE [Platinum Edition] – 3:51  
Dust to Dust – The Civil Wars – The Civil Wars -3:50  
Wish You Were Here – Pinky Flyod – Wish You Were Here – 5:35  
Take Me to Church – Hozier- Hozier- 4:02  
Wings – Birdy – Fire Within – 4:12  
If I Ain’t Got you – Alicia Keys- the Diary Of Alicia Keys – 3:49  
Big Jet Plane – Angus & Julia Stone –Down The Way - 3:59  
Killing me – Luke Sital-Singh – Killing me – 4:24  
Feels like home - Chantal Kreviazuk – Songs from Dawson’s Creeks 4:40  
Fast Car – Tracy Chapman - Tracy Chapman- 4:57

XXX

Ian’s Spotify playlist (After Bramble and Co.)

Playlist: Songs v.2

War Eternal – Arch Enemy- War Eternal – 4:16  
Moonlight Sonata – Ludwig van Beethoven, London Piano Consort 3:59  
MMMBop – Hanson – Middle of Nowhere – 4:29  
Little Lion Man – Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More – 4:07  
Nicotine – Panic! At The Disco – Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! – 3:07  
Blank Space – I Prevail- Blank Space- 4:01  
Just One Yesterday – Fall Out Boy – Save Rock And Roll – 4:05  
Motivational Speaker – Alvin Youngblood Hart – Motivational Speaker 3:57  
Shot At The Night – The Killers- Direct Hits – 4:02  
It’s Only – ODESZA, Zara – In Return – 4:28  
Kryptonite – 3 Doors Down – The better life – 3:54  
Move Like U Stole It – ZZ Ward – Til the Casket Drops – 3:18  
Piano Concerto in A Minor- Op.16. 11. Adagio – Edward Grieg – 6:26  
Viva La Vida – Coldplay – Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends – 4:02  
The Circular Ruins – At the Gates- At War with Reality – 4:28  
Infinity – The xx - xx- 5:13  
Fast Car [Radio Edit] – Jonas Blue, Dakota – Fast Car - 4:01


	12. Please what Ian?

“What do you mean declined?” James yelled at the mousy looking lady unlucky enough to be rostered with front desk duty tonight at the Holiday Inn Express. He leant over the counter trying to peer at the terminal, “Well, fucking try again!”. James didn’t care that the young women before him was trembling, this was the third hotel he’d been to and he was not leaving until he got a room. His first choice was The Ritz-Carton then the Windsor Court but both claimed to be fully booked and turned him away. James wasn’t stupid, he knew they turned him away because of who he was. It seemed when he’d pitched himself against the Milkovich’s the whole City of New Orleans had turned against him.

“I’m s-sorry sir, it’s declined again”

James’s face turned beet red, he snatched his credit card out of her hand and pivoted around. Pushing through to door he stood on the street and was greeted by his bodyguard, a tall bulky man by the name of Michael.

“What happened, they turn you out on your arse mate?”

His face grew hot, the collar of his dress shirt squeezing at his neck, “Is that how you talk to your employer? Your services are costing me a great deal of money so I expect to be treated appropriately”. James waited by the car, when it seemed Michael wasn’t going to open the door for him he was forced to do it himself. The mansion he rented for his stay in New Orleans was now almost bare, someone had stolen practically everything except for a few indoor plants. One day after returning from a meeting with his banking advisor about liquidating his assets he found the door to the front of the house missing. Walking right into the house he noticed painting missing from walls and his fridge bare of contents when he went searching for a drink. A few days later while he was in his study room late at night he lost power to the whole house, he’d checked the power box but found no issue. After finding the neighbours house windows lit he called the electricity company, they couldn’t see a reason why he had no power and promised to have someone out within 72 hours. After two days without electricity it miraculously came back on, now it only went out at random times of the night.

“Where to Mr Paxton?” The driver asked.

James looked out the window, “Just drive around the block”

“That’s the third hotel that’s kicked you out boss” Michael unhelpfully pointed out.

“I can count. Don’t need you stating the obvious!” James snarled. He wasn’t in the mood to put up with Michael’s audacity, “How is it that you’re my bodyguard but haven’t managed to catch who broke into my house. What am I paying you for?”

“Well now that ya mentioned it, my real boss says the cheque you sent ‘im bounced, so you’re not really payin’ me nothing”

James wanted to punch the bodyguards face and wipe the smirk off his face. He’d known the cheque would bounce when he wrote it, his accounts where almost depleted. “I’ll write another cheque. Make it out to Sir Nikolas Mikkelsen was it?”

“Sure is” Michael Heathcote replied.

Already James knew it would be another worthless cheque but at least it would tide him over for another week or two. He didn’t feel safe without a bodyguard, getting heckled every time he was in public, his house being broken and death threats where just some of his concerns. His parents suspiciously announced they were taking a four month cruise around the world, only springing it on him when they were about to leave port. Now, when he needed to ask them for a loan or at minimal be a guarantor they where out of reach. He didn’t have many friends before, most people he knew were either business colleagues or acquaintances, people who spoke to him when they required favours, vice versa.

It hit him hard when a week ago the foreman looking after one of his investment properties called him to let him know their excavator had dug up four bodies whilst laying the foundations. Police were required to be notified and within minutes the construction crew were forced off the site until further notice. Two days later the police released a statement with the names of the four bodies found buried in cement, they identified the men to be the very same ones that where caught on CCTV attacking Ian Gallagher and Mickey Milkovich.

“How ‘bout the Empress Hotel”, Michael asked breaking him out of his thoughts. James looked at the screen on Michaels phone, it showed a decrepit looking house that had been converted into a make shift hotel. The details showed it was rated 1 star and the pictures of the rooms made his skin crawl. “Oh look, even the Milkovich’s living in an abandoned car park have electricity”.

James turned his attention from the phone to the window on his side, his driver had slowed down and they were passing by the abandoned carpark which had been deemed unstable since hurricane Katrina hit. He saw Christmas lights hanging haphazardly over the multi story car park and a few people in the front just standing around. He recognised Colin and Iggy from the group, they gave a wave in his direction even though it would have been impossible for them to recognise him behind the dark glass.

XXX

Ians peculiar behaviour and the stilted conversations continued weeks after they’d settled into a routine. Mickey watched Ian get accustomed to their daily lifestyle; waking up when he did, having meals when he did, and working out when he did. It all came to a head one evening when it was just the two of them alone; Ben and Nikolas went out to dinner, Emilia and Miles who returned over a week ago took all three kids and Brambles’ Nana a Walt Disney movie showing at the Ward entertainment centre. Mickey was standing in the shower after a two hour workout on the treadmill to help ease the ache in his muscles. With his forehead leant up against the tiled shower Mickey let the hot water cascade down his neck and shoulder blades leaving his skin flushed. Mickey didn’t need to open his eyes or turn his head to know Ian was watching him from the other side of the glass, it was a habit he’d let happen; Ian jerking himself off as he watched him shower. Today was different though, he wasn’t in a mood to just ‘let it happen’ again. Ian jerking them both off, jerking himself off or just blowing him was no longer cutting it. He wanted to be fucked.

Before he could consider reigning in his impulse, Mickey push himself from the wall and flung the screen door open. Covering the distance between Ian and himself, he pulled Ian to him in a punishing kiss. Their teethes clashed as Mickey forced himself on Ian, he dug the tips of his fingers into the back of Ians neck not caring that they would leave bruises the next day. Now stronger than before, Mickey refused to budge even as Ian tried to push him away by wedging both hands between them. When Ian opened his mouth to protest Mickey gained entrance to his mouth, he swiped his tongue inside, relishing in the taste of Ian. It had been so long and he’d missed kissing Ian so much he barely remembered a time when he had once refused Ian’s kisses.

What he didn’t expect was Ian to bite on his tongue, instinct took over and he reared back pushing Ian away from him. “Fuck, what the fuck Ian!” Mickey swore. Ian looked at him nervously but didn’t reply. Fed up, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and turned from Ian to retrieve a towel from the rack, he wrapped it around his waist before whirling back around. “You fucking bit me!”, he snapped.

Ian moved from one foot to the other nervously, “You kissed me”.

Mickey gave a disbelieving laugh, in what State was kissing your boyfriend a crime? He pushed pass Ian and made his way into the bedroom, still wet and not caring Mickey yanked on a shirt and some sweatpants. Leaving the towel on the carpet he went downstairs to try and get as far away from Ian as possible. He’d been so patient with Ian, but he could feel his control slipping. When he got down the bottom of the stairs he realised the kitchen wasn’t far enough so he took to the doors that led him out to the yard. Mickey stomped around the pool, past the manicured lawn and down the deck that lead directly over the water. The drop off was approximately 20 feet down. On a clear day it would have been looked welcoming; crystal aquamarine waters, tonight however, the stars and moon where shrouded by the clouds leaving the water to appear like a black bottomless pit.  
Mickey ran both hands over his face, he wanted the old Ian back, not this one that went through the days in a daze. Even in Ian’s depressed state he wasn’t like this. With each passing second he grew more frustrated, he wished he’d bothered to take a packet of cigarettes with him.

“Mick”

Mickey whirled around incredulous at the use of his shortened name, Ian was standing a few feet away. His face was resigned and concerned, even in the dark Mickey could tell Ian was unsure. It didn’t matter though, because he’d reach his limit to care.

“Don’t fucking call me ‘Mick’, when do you ever call me that?” He spat.

“Mickey”, Ian amended – pleaded.

Mickey closed his eyes and tilted his head up towards the sky while pinching bridge of his nose. “Just go inside Ian, just give me a minute”, he asked as calm as he could. There was no retreating footsteps so Mickey was forced to look where Ian still stood, Ian was there looking like a lost little boy. “Just fucking go!” He barked.

“Mickey, please”

Ian was begging him, for what he didn’t know. He couldn’t understand what was going on in Ian’s head and that was the problem. He rounded on Ian, when they were a foot apart he pushed at Ians chest making him stumble a few steps back towards the house.

The Southside thug in him reared its ugly, “Please what Ian?”. Mickey pushed Ian again, pointing one hand in the direction of the lit house, “I want you to go back to the fucking house and pack your bags, go back to Chicago or New Orleans, just get the fuck away from me”. Mickey watched Ian cast a glance towards the house then back at him. Ian shook his head. He stepped forward, both hands out and pushed Ian on the chest again, Ian stumbled backward a few more steps. If he did this 30 more times Ian would eventually be pushed back into the house. “Are you deaf?”

Ian rubbed both hands where Mickey pushed against his chest. When he spoke his voice was soft, barely loud enough for Mickey to catch, “I’m not going anywhere without you”.

Mickey cocked his head, “What’s that, you say?”

“I’m not leaving here without you”, Ian repeated louder then licked his lips nervously.

He snapped, whatever thread Mickey had been hanging onto went up in flames. “But you’re not fucking here, Ian!”. Ian didn’t understand, Mickey could tell be the way Ian scrunch up his face in confusion. The anger fizzled out, it was hard to stay angry at someone who looked so damn lost. “Go pack your bags, I’ll drive you to the airport” Mickey said in a calm voice.

Ian shook his head.

Mickey sighed, maybe it was time to have that talk to Ian. “I got every voicemail you left Ian” Mickey said still facing the sea, but knew Ian could hear him. “You sounded more alive with the distance between us than you do standing right here next to me”. He turned and purposely waked towards Ian until the tips of their toes touched. Mickey wrapped a hand around Ian’s neck, unlike earlier, he was gentle this time, he looked into Ian’s eyes as he spoke. “Maybe you came here looking for me, but when you got here you found I’m not the same man anymore?”. He had a scar at the back of his head visible because the hair would never grow back there, there were scars on both his legs; running from hip to thigh where the insertion of the metal rods where screwed to his thigh bone while he’d been unconscious. Then there as the stupid limp he had on days he was too exhausted to correct his walk. No, he defiantly wasn’t the same man he’d been before he accident.

XXX

Ben and Nikolas came home from dinner early. Nikolas ate lobster and sushi at an upscale restaurant while Ben had picked at the raw looking food placed before him. With Nikolas full and Ben’s stomach still rumbling they polished off their fourth glass of wine each and headed home. With the kids all out they were hoping to spend some time alone in their room without the possibility of being interrupted. As soon as Ben opened up the front door he started heading for the stairs, keen on getting Nikolas alone and naked. It took him halfway up the stairs to realise Nik was not directly behind him, with a huff he backtracked down the stairs, “Nik, where the fuck are you?”

“Benjamin, don’t swear at me” Nikolas replied. “And turn off the lights”

Ben folded his arms, Nikolas had his back to him and was staring out the glass window into the darkness of the backyard. He waited a full three minutes before Nikolas turned back to him, exasperation showing on his face.

“Please Ben, can you turn off the lights?”

Accepting Nikolas’s attempt at manners Ben made his way to the fridge that was on the way to the light switch. “We can’t have sex down here Nik, I think Ian and Mickey are home. Probably upstairs being awkward”.

“Seriously Benjamin. Is sex the only thing you-“ Nikolas stopped what he was saying when he saw Ben had retrieved some left over roast chicken from the fridge and was picking at it. “My apologies, let me amend what I was about to say. Is sex and food the only thing you think about?”

Benjamin’s chewed on the cold chicken, “Occasionally I also think how annoying you are”. He flicked off the light and went to stand beside Nikolas, with the light off and his eyes adjusting to the dark he could make out Ian and Ben standing across the other side of the pool out on the deck. They were nothing more than dark silhouettes, but Ben was good at reading body language and could tell by the men’s stances that it wasn’t a well to do conversation.

“Go out there and speak to Ian” Nikolas commanded.

Ben didn’t turn from watching the two young men, he swung his arm back and placed the now empty plate of chicken on the dining table behind him. “I’m not going out there, they’re clearly arguing”. He felt Nikolas move in right beside him so that their shoulders brushed. Even after all these years, the smallest touch from Nik made his heart soar. He tampered it down, it was never good to let Nikolas know just how much he worshipped his golden god. “Besides, if anyone should go out there it’s you. You know you’re the reason they’re arguing right?”. Even he had argued with Nik about them leaving Ian in Chicago, but as always Nikolas did whatever he wanted, Ben had to either follow along or he’d too be left behind.

Nikolas’s hand brushed against Ben’s “If you go out there and stop their bickering I promise to speak to Mickey”

“Why speak to Mickey? You need to speak to Ian” Ben said

Nikolas gave a huff, “Have you not seen the way Ian Gallagher looks at me. He’d more likely run me through with the kitchen knife than listen to one word I say”

Ben shrugged the way Nikolas usually did, “You kind of deserve it”. Nikolas turned, one hand came up to cup his face, a finger smoother over his cheekbone causing his eyelids to flutter close at the touch. When he opened his green eyes Nikolas was watching him intently. “What?”

“I want us to go home soon. Molly has been away from school for too long and I have a business to run”

Ben knew better than to believe Nikolas, “Molly is homed school and by business, you mean sitting at your computer playing online poker?”. Ben cupped the back of Nikolas’s head, it didn’t take much coercion because Nik went willingly when it came to Ben. Their foreheads touched and their breaths mingled, “If I go out there and break up their argument you need to make things right”. This close he could feel the pout if Niks lips, “I mean it Nik”.

Nikolas let out an exasperated sigh, “Fine”

Ben gave a small smile and leaned in to give Nikolas a quick peck on the lips. “And get rid of that joint you got in your suitcase, it bloody reeks”. With that Ben let go of Nikolas and slid open the sliding glass door, he made his way around the pool, taking his time to appreciate the warm night air. After all of these weeks he finally embraced the humid air. His strolled down the walkway giving both Mickey and Ian time to noticed him approaching.

Hands in pocket he addressed Ian, “Hey, we wanted to know of you wanted to watch a movie”. Not one of his best icebreakers but he didn’t have much to work with. “Ah, you can choose whatever you want, we don’t have to watch a zombie or horror movie. I can save those for when Bramble’s home”. Ian didn’t seem to be interested, his eyes were still focused on Mickey who wasn’t looking at either of them. Ben decided it was time to lie, “Nik’s promised to watch whatever you choose, seems like a good night to watch The Notebook or Miss Congeniality, right?”. That got Ian’s attention because he cocked his head telling him that Ian had heard, he leaned in closer to Ian, deciding he needed to be serious. “I promise you Ian, if you come in, Mickey will follow you in less than five minutes”.

Ian didn’t choose a chick flick to piss Nikolas off with, instead he chose the remake of Point Break which turned out to be painful for all four of them. Ben also managed to keep his promise because after five minutes into the opening scene, Mickey shuffled in and sat himself down on the lounge beside Ian. The four of them watched Point Break with the constant interruption of Nikolas who couldn’t control his annoyance at the storyline. He made constant remarks at how ludicrous the story was and how cringe worthy the dialogue sounded to his ears. Ben was glad when Emilia came home and everyone trailed in behind her when they were only half way into the movie. The kids where all sleepy so he jumped up from where he sat and offered to get them all ready for bed. He was a terrible person for leaving Nikolas with that shit movie but he just couldn’t muster up enough sympathy to care.

XXX

“How many are there?”Nikolas asked idly. Almost every night he sat companionably with Mickey out the back of the house on the iron lawn chair around a small round glass table. Mickey was bent over the table with a joint between his lips, his fingers pushing pills one at a time from one end of the glass to the other.

With his lips still around the joint Mickey held up one finger, “I’m try’na fuckin’ count here”.

Leaning forward Nikolas retrieved his joint and took a puff for himself, he’d already put up with Ben’s nagging about the damn thing so he may as well enjoy it. As promised he was here to have a heart to heart with Mickey, it was a tedious affair. “How long does it take you to count-“. Nikolas paused to lean over the table and squinted “There can’t be more than a dozen pills”.

Mickey had counted the little pills seven times over. With the date on the label of the bottle he was able to work out how many pills Ian should have taken and therefore, how many pills should be left. Everything added up which frustrated him to no end, he swiped all the pills into the middle of the table and placed them all back into the yellow bottle. Screwing back the cap he glared at English, “It’s four a.m, don’t you got somewhere to be other than bug the shit outta me?”. His agitation had not dissipated with Ian going to bed and the heat of the night didn’t help, how the fuck could it be so humid in December? Even just sitting here exerting no energy whatsoever, he was still sweating. “And where’d you get the spliff from anyway?”

Nikolas shrugged not wanting to divulge his sources, the last thing he needed was Mickey high every day. As soon as that thought came he dismissed it, Mickey was too disciplined to ever be swayed by drugs or booze. Sure he imbibed, but always in moderation. “Let’s talk about Ian”.

Mickey leaned back into the chair, the iron might have looked good with the house but it was bloody uncomfortable. Every time he sat in the chair, when he stood up he always felt the imprint of swirly patterns on his butt. He folding both hands behind his head and pushed his feet out wide, slouching back in the chair. “Oh, so now you want to talk about Ian”. The last time they’d spoken about Ian he’d been persuaded to leave his boyfriend behind. He glanced sideways at English, “Okay, so talk. Tell me what Ben wants you to say so we can get out of this forsaken heat”.

It might have been just one joint between the two of them but it gave them both the courage to speak more freely. Nikolas gave a huff of amusement over the insinuation that he always did Ben’s bidding. It wasn’t far from the truth, but even if it hadn’t been he and Mickey would have eventually come to this moment. Ben’s nagging and Ian’s continuous contemptuous glares over the breakfast tables where nothing more than a nuisance.

“You haven’t left the house in a while”, Nikolas didn’t see a point in dancing around the conversation.

Mickey stayed in his relaxed position but it was now just for show, his shoulders squared and the interlocking fingers behind his head stiffened. “Whatcha talking about, I’ve been out for a run every fucking damn day”

“Into town, around people. Take Ian with you so he does more than murmur a few words here and there like a simpleton”. Mickey was about to interrupt him but Nikolas motioned him keep quiet, one finger in the air as Mickey did to him earlier. He plucked the bottle of pills off the table, “You come out here and count these pills every few days, most days I’m sitting here with you and sometimes I’m up in my room looking down from my window when it’s too hot to bother. It’s always the same isn’t it Mickey, you count these pills and they always add up. He hasn’t lapsed Mickey”

Mickey pushed off the chair, running a hand through his hair in a frustrated manner “Then what the fucks wrong with him?”

“My guess is PTSD”. Nikolas smirked, “but Ben thinks that hit in the head left him brain damaged”

Ignoring the latter remark, Mickey paced to and fro, he mulled over what English had just said “Isn’t PTSD for people who went to war and shit?”

That was exactly what Nikolas said to Ben when Dr Benjamin Rider-Mikkelsen took it upon himself to diagnose Ian’s peculiar behaviour. He quite liked that Mickey thought like him, made it all the easier to anticipate. “That’s a fair assumption” Nikolas replied sounding as if he hadn’t researched PTSD off the internet days ago. “It’s a disorder characterised by failure to recover after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event”

“Well fuck” Mickey muttered.


End file.
